Consultant insists he never refused treatment

A medical consultant at Mater Dei Hospital denied he had refused to treat a patient, as a couple claimed last week.

Anna Maria Dougall and her husband Joseph filed a protest last week saying that after she had told consultant Massimo Abela that she visited a Chinese masseur to seek pain relief he refused to treat her.

The couple said they had called at the Orthopaedic Outpatients Clinic on June 16 when the doctor on duty removed plaster applied three weeks earlier to the woman's arm and decided that it would be better if Dr Abela had a look at her arm.

However, when he showed up, Dr Abela stopped treating her after she told him she had visited a Chinese masseur, the couple claimed.

In his counter protest, Dr Abela said the allegations made in his regard were completely unfounded and that their judicial protest gave a much distorted picture of what actually happened. He said that, in the presence of another doctor, he had diagnosed her problem and gave his professional opinion about what treatment she should seek in the future. He denied having ever been arrogant to her or having denied treatment or even disagreeing with alternative medicine.

Lawyer Adrian Delia signed the counter protest.