Frank Portelli's appeal null, Medical Council argues

An appeal by the chief executive officer of St Philip’s Hospital against the Medical Council was null and void, the council is claiming.

After the Medical Council fined Dr Portelli €10,000 and threatened to strike him off the medical register unless he paid it, Dr Portelli filed an appeal in court against the council last month.

The council had taken its decision in connection with a letter Dr Portelli had sent consultant Louis Buhagiar in 2003 suspending him from St Philip's because of "repeated complaints" he had received about the professional fees Dr Buhagiar was charging patients.

The council found the letter to be defamatory in Dr Buhagiar's regard.

In his appeal, Dr Portelli claimed the Medical Council did not have the jurisdiction to fine the CEO of a private hospital, in which capacity he had written the letter.

Moreover, the council failed in its function, as obliged by law, to conclude the inquiry within two years.

In its reply, the Medical Council said that Dr Portelli’s appeal was null and void for a number of reasons.

These included that the Appeal’s Court did not have jurisdiction or competence to hear or decide appeals from its decisions.

It was only when the council struck someone’s name off the Medical Register that one had the right to appeal. This had not been done in the case of Dr Portelli and such action would only be taken if he failed to honour the council’s decision.

The council argued that it had acted in line with a legal notice and this had to be taken into consideration for the law to be correctly administered.

As for the argument that it did not have jurisdiction on the case moved by Dr Buhagiar as Dr Portelli had written in his capacity as CEO of the hospital, the council said its decision was on Dr Portelli as a doctor.

That Dr Portelli also was also the CEO of a commercial entity was an uncontested fact that was, however, irrelevant to the matter.

To give such a factor relevance would mean that a member of the profession could hide behind such titles to escape the applicable sanctions imposed by law, the council argued.