Committee: Discipline
Decision Date: 05 Apr 1995
Summary:
In April 1995, Dr. de la Rocha pleaded guilty to a charge of professional misconduct, as defined in s.61(3)(a) of the Health Disciplines Act, 1990, as amended, in that he had been found guilty of an offence relevant to his suitability to practice.
The Discipline Committe accepted Dr. de la Rocha s plea of guilty and found him guilty of professional misconduct.
Consequently, the Committee imposed the following penalty:
1. Dr. de la Rocha's licence to practice was to be suspended for a period of ninety days.
2. This period of suspension was itself to be suspended, provided that Dr. de la Rocha, within fifteen days after the date upon which this Order became final, filed a written undertaking with the Registrar to prepare a proposal for a protocol for use in community hospitals, concerning the withdrawal of life support from terminally ill patients, and provided further that:
(a) he submitted to the Registrar, within thirty days of filing the written undertaking, an organizational plan for the development of the proposal for the protocol;
(b) the proposal for the protocol addressed the pharmacological management of symptoms, as well as the subjects of informal consent, ethics, patient autonomy, and the involvement of the family and the family physician in the decision-making process;
(c) in the course of preparation of the protocol, Dr. de la Rocha reviewed relevant literature and consulted widely with experts in palliative care, ethics and critical care, and with patients' rights organizations;
(d) the proposal for a protocol was of such a quality as to render it suitable for submission to a peer-reviewed journal, and was submitted by Dr. de la Rocha for consideration for publication by such a journal;
(e) Dr. de la Rocha, within 270 days of filing the written undertaking, submitted to the Registrar a copy of the proposal for a protocol, and also written confirmation that he complied with sections 2(b), 2(c) and 2(d) cited above.
3. In the event that, having filed the written undertaking referred to in section 2 above, Dr. de la Rocha failed to comply with the deadlines contained in sections 2(a) or 2(e) cited above, his licence to practice would thereupon be suspended for a period of ninety days, such suspension to commence immediately following such failure to comply.
4. These penalties were to be recorded in the Register.