GP who forged patient signature blames cardiac issues for ‘poor judgment’
A tribunal rejected the medical excuse but added that the GP’s motivation was to stop alleged elder abuse rather than personal gain
A GP who forged a patient’s signature to access her hospital records has failed to convince a tribunal that a cardiac condition explained his “mentally erratic” actions.
The Melbourne doctor had a reputation for going “the extra mile”, according to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
In December 2016, he arranged a consultation with an elderly woman who was not one of his regular patients after he was told she was being fleeced by her stepdaughter.
After a consultation conducted over the phone, he then sent a fax to a local hospital — where the woman’s stepdaughter happened to work — asking for copies of the woman’s most recent geriatric assessment and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score.
