Court suspends delusional GP who thought Garda was spying

14/07/2025

The High Court has approved the suspension of a GP who wrongly believed a female garda was spying on him for 15 years and that she had bugged his phone.

The court heard the GP had been assessed in April by a consultant psychiatrist who concluded he had a ‘persistent delusional disorder of persecutory type’.

The doctor rejected the psychiatrist’s opinion and claimed it was arranged by a female Garda detective who had him under surveillance since 2010.

He claimed the detective had been in the psychiatrist’s office and had met the psychiatrist before his appointment – an allegation denied by the psychiatrist. He also said he believed two more gardaí were working in the service as a receptionist and a driver and that the female detective together with his former wife and three solicitors were involved in acts of forgery.

The court heard the GP told a solicitor from the Medical Council in January that his phone was being tapped by the detective.

The High Court placed a prohibition on him practising medicine until the completion of a fitness-to-practise process by the Medical Council in order to protect the public.

High Court president Judge David Barniville granted an application by the Medical Council for the suspension of the GP, who has worked as a family doctor for around 35 years.

Lawyers for the Medical Council told the court last week it was necessary to bring the application after being informed by the directors of an out-of-hours GP service in the Leinster area in December 2024 about the doctor’s unusual behaviour and complaints about his clinical practice as well as concerns for his mental health.

A majority of the complaints related to his poor manner and an approach which ‘intermittently appears clinically inadequate’ particularly in relation to gynaecological issues.

It was also claimed there were two very significant ‘near misses’ involving the GP, including his alleged failure to engage adequately with an elderly patient with a chest infection who was subsequently diagnosed as having bilateral pneumonia.

The doctor, who denies having any issues with his mental health, was removed from the roster with the out-of-hours GP service in October 2024.

In his ruling, Judge Barniville said he was satisfied the Medical Council had legitimate and reasonable concerns for the protection of the public if the doctor was permitted to continue to practise pending completion of fitness-to-practise procedures.

He admitted he was very concerned for the doctor’s mental health ‘on the basis of what I witnessed.’

However, the judge said he would also give the doctor liberty to apply for the order to be varied or modified to enable him to continue to practise if he was prepared to agree to the conditions proposed by the Medical Council and to give undertakings which were consistent with the recommendations of the psychiatrist.