GP alleged to have undermined public health policy during Covid faces hearing
A Limerick-based general practitioner alleged to have posted tweets and made public comments during the Covid-19 pandemic that undermined public health policy has appeared before a fitness-to-practise committee.Dr Patrick Morrissey of Adare Medical Centre faced 39 factual allegations on Tuesday including that, while working at the centre, he prescribed hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, and co-prescribed azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine to a number of patients who had Covid-19 symptoms or who received a Covid-19 diagnosis.Hydroxychloroquine is used to manage autoimmune conditions including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, while ivermectin is used to treat parasitic infection.Azithromycin is an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections like pneumonia, strep throat and skin infections.READ MORE‘I’m a man in my 60s and my wife no longer desires me’Meet the most powerful woman in Britain Be like John Lennon and buy an Irish island, with bidding starting at €299,000 Man (30s) to appear in court charged in connection with Tramore church incidentIt was alleged Morrissey’s prescribing of these medicines in respect of Covid-19 symptoms and diagnosis was contrary to the prescribing guidelines of the HSE, the European Medicines Agency and the Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Medical Practitioners.Neasa Bird, barrister for the chief executive of the Medical Council Dr Maria O’Kane, submitted it is not recommended hydroxychloroquine be prescribed along with azithromycin due to a lack of clinical efficiency, and also as it may lead to QTS elongation.QTS is a disorder of the heart’s electrical system where the time it takes for the heart’s lower chambers to contract and electrically reset takes longer than normal and can trigger dangerous heart rhythms.The committee also agreed to a number of preliminary applications including that the names of two members of the public, including one of Morrissey’s patients, who each made a complaint against him, be anonymised.This latter complainant withdrew her complaint, but the council decided to use its statutory power to proceed with her complaint as if it had not been withdrawn.[ Investigation recommended into convicted sex offender and ex-hospital consultant Michael ShineOpens in new window ]It is alleged that on December 13th, 2021, during a consultation with this complainant, the mother of an infant patient, Morrissey failed to wear a mask and failed to respond appropriately when she asked him to wear a mask.Morrissey, who represented himself, did not object to the applications but said the application to anonymise the identity of the complainants was “highly unusual”.The third complainant against Morrissey is the Medical Council.A video of Morrissey addressing a rally in Dublin in front of the Custom House on October 3rd, 2020, beneath a Yellow Vest Ireland banner and standing behind an Irish tricolour flag, was played at the inquiry.Yellow Vest Ireland, styled on the movement of the same name in France, says it is a grassroots movement against “the disproportionate burden” of the Government’s tax and policies that are “failing the people of Ireland”.It is alleged Morrissey made a number of comments at this rally that undermined public health guidelines and public health authorities, and contravened sections of the Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Medical Practitioners.One of the allegations against Morrissey concerned a retweet he posted on July 31st, 2021, which included a picture of the gates to the Auschwitz concentration camp with the wording: “Vaccines will make you free.”The inquiry regarding the allegations against Morrissey will reconvene on Wednesday to hear further evidence.
