A Gozitan dentist found guilty of “professional and ethical misconduct” in 2009 has still not served his two-month suspension as court cases are delaying his ‘punishment’.

Franco Mercieca yesterday told Times of Malta that he would continue fighting the Medical Council’s decision against him, “if need be even in Europe”, despite losing a court appeal last week.

Deeming the decision “is a big injustice” and claiming he was “framed by colleagues”, Dr Mercieca said another court case was still pending.

The issue goes back to 2007 when a patient raised a complaint against Dr Mercieca.

The patient claimed he went much further than he was asked to

The patient told a Medical Council investigation he walked into the dentist’s clinic 15 minutes before its closure because of a minor but urgent problem that was causing him discomfort.

He claimed Dr Mercieca went much further than what he was asked to do, treating other teeth that were evidently decayed but was not asked to treat, even giving injections the patient refused.

According to the patient, Dr Mercieca administered anaesthetic against his will without even asking whether he was on medication. The council said that Dr Mercieca’s testimony was ambiguous on several occasions and his explanations concerned “more his justification to use an expensive restorative material on the patient’s teeth to justify the fee he claimed from him”.

Concluding that Dr Mercieca’s behaviour was unacceptable and against the patient’s interests, four years ago the council found him guilty of professional and ethical misconduct and imposed a suspension. The court last week turned down the dentist’s appeal from the Medical Council’s decision on grounds that the law empowered it to take cognisance of such cases only when a person’s name was struck off the register permanently and not suspended for a given period.

A council spokesman said yesterday the suspension would only come into force once all legal procedures were over. Dr Mercieca has a pending case before the Civil Court in which he is also challenging the Medical Council ruling.