Locum GP found guilty of professional misconduct after failures in care of two children

Seán McCárthaigh

A locum GP has been found guilty of professional misconduct and poor professional performance over her failure to recognise the serious conditions of two very ill children and to refer them to hospital.

A medical fitness-to-practise inquiry of the Medical Council heard that the failure by Dr Alicia Marton Martinez to provide appropriate care had devastating consequences for one patient who required emergency surgery to remove a testicle.

Evidence was also heard that the other patient - a 24-day-old baby who was diagnosed with viral meningitis - could have died over the GP’s failure to refer him to hospital for further assessment.

On the second day of the inquiry on Tuesday, the fitness-to-practise committee found six allegations proven against Dr Marton Martinez over her treatment of the teenager and baby boy - identified only as Patient A and Patient B respectively - while working as a locum at SouthDoc’s clinic in Midleton, Co Cork, three years ago.

The inquiry found that Dr Marton Martinez failed to have adequate regard to the symptoms of both patients, as communicated by their parents, as well as failing to directly refer them to an emergency department or escalate their care appropriately.

The inquiry’s chairperson, Paul Harkin, said the committee’s findings were based on the evidence of Patient A’s mother, Patient B’s father and SouthDoc documents.

Dr Marton Martinez, who qualified as a doctor in Spain in 1988, did not attend the fitness-to-practise inquiry and is not legally represented at the hearing being held by the Medical Council.

The GP gave a voluntary undertaking to the High Court in September 2023 not to practice medicine until further notice after the Medical Council had sought an interim suspension order against her.

The inquiry heard that Patient A, who was aged 14 at the time, had complained on the morning of October 10th, 2022, of a swollen testicle and being in a lot of pain and discomfort.

His mother gave evidence that Dr Marton Martinez told her in a phone call that her son’s condition was normal for a teenage boy and she recommended placing a cold compress on his testicle and taking a course of pain relief for a week.

The woman, who was concerned that her son might have a testicular torsion – a medical emergency where the blood flow is cut off to a testicle – said she would prefer if he could be examined by a doctor.

However, Dr Marton Martinez repeated the earlier advice she had given after conducting a brief examination of the teenager at SouthDoc’s clinic in Midleton.

The inquiry heard that the boy returned to SouthDoc a week later with severe pain, when he was referred immediately to Cork University Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery to remove a testicle.

An expert witness, Tom O’Dowd, gave evidence that the teenager had been left with a life-long disability which was “entirely preventable” as a testicular torsion was a well-known medical condition.

Mr Harkin said the fitness-to-practise committee found that Dr Marton Martinez ought to have known that a teenage boy with a swollen testicle required treatment in hospital.

The inquiry also heard from Patient B’s father about contacting SouthDoc on November 12th, 2022, as his son had a fever, was grunting and had pale and mottled skin.

However, he said Dr Marton Martinez remarked that his baby’s symptoms did not sound very severe and asked if he had been given Calpol, although the medicine is not recommended for children under two months.

The man said he sought a second opinion from another SouthDoc doctor, who immediately referred him to take his baby to CUH.

He was diagnosed with viral meningitis but recovered fully after a few days’ stay in hospital.

Mr Harkin said the claim by Dr Marton Martinez that she had been told the boy was nine years old was “not credible” as SouthDoc records noted that the patient was a 24-day-old as well as breastfeeding and wearing nappies.

The fitness-to-practice committee found there were serious failures on the part of the locum, which amounted to poor professional performance.

Mr Harkin said the allegations also constituted professional misconduct in that they represented a serious falling short of the standards expected of doctors of experience, competence and good repute.

However, he said the GP’s actions were not disgraceful or dishonourable as they did not involve any element of fraud, dishonesty or moral turpitude.

The hearing was adjourned to a future date to consider the recommendation of a sanction by the fitness-to-practise committee to the Medical Council.