Doctor cleared of breach of ethics

The Medical Council has cleared a doctor of breach of ethics after coming to the conclusion that it was unlikely she would certify a medical test result when such a test would not have been made.

The council heard how on July 23, 1998, a woman went to the doctor's clinic complaining of vaginal discharge and a smear test was carried out.

On July 26, 1998, the doctor, Dr Alexandra Portelli, said that the result of the smear test was received reading: "This is to certify that result of smear test last done 23/7/98 has been reported as normal. No signs of malignancy detected. Result: Normal smear".

A few months later, the woman went back to the doctor as she still had the same problem and she was referred to a gynaecologist.

On March 5, 1999, the woman's husband contacted the doctor and informed her that his wife had been diagnosed with cervical cancer.

He asked her for a copy of the smear test result. However, the doctor told him she had disposed of it as was her normal practice after some time had passed.

Dr Portelli, who was represented by Dr Jason Azzopardi, explained that she had instructed the patient to let her know if she did not receive the result within a week. When the doctor did not hear from the patient, she assumed that everything was fine and disposed of the result.

The doctor informed the patient's husband that the smear had been tested at St James Hospital, where she had taken the sample personally.

However, the hospital said that no records of the patient's test could be found.

The woman died and on August 18, 2000, her husband filed a complaint against the doctor, who was then charged with breach of ethics.

After hearing several witnesses and analysing the situation, the council noted that the patient's husband had first asked the doctor for a copy of the result eight months after she claimed to have received them, when she did not know about his wife's medical condition.

Therefore, although the Medical Council did not make a specific finding as to whether or not the result of this smear test existed, it said that the doctor could not be blamed for disposing of the result.

Throughout the inquiry it had become clear that the doctor was an emotional person and a character witness had described her as "very meticulous and correct," among other positive remarks.

It was therefore not likely that Dr Portelli would have certified a medical test result when this test would not have been carried out.