Is Qld Oncologist Guilty Or Innocent? The Queensland Oncologist resigned from his medical registration after his misconduct resulted in the death of the Melanoma patient.
Paul Norman Mainwaring, a former Mater Hospital director of oncology, most recently worked at Oxley’s Canossa Private Hospital.
Paul is the co-founder and CEO of XING Technologies, a biotech company that specializes in cancer diagnosis.
In a decision published on Tuesday, Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s John Robertson determined that the 57-year-old’s “multiple failures,” particularly his initial treatment choice of immunotherapy for the melanoma patient in 2018, were “very serious.”
Is Qld Oncologist Guilty Or Innocent?
A leading oncologist in Queensland was found to have engaged in professional misconduct after multiple errors in diagnosis and treatment caused a melanoma patient to die “unnecessarily.”
According to the decision, on May 25, 2018, a 76-year-old patient named PB “tragically died” in Brisbane after contracting an infection from severe diarrhea and a perforated gastrointestinal wall. These were the “complications” of the immunotherapy he received in four infusions between January and March of this year.
Mr. Robertson claimed that because of the overwhelming expert evidence against Mr. Mainwaring, his multiple failures and initial treatment decisions were severe.
What Caused The Misconduct Which Led To Patient Death?
Although the doctor has given in to his accusers, many believe he didn’t need to. One must try immunotherapy before resorting to surgery because it can work wonders.
Given that the patient’s melanoma was either stage IIB or stage IVa, Mr. Robertson wrote that ipilimumab was not the proper treatment for the patient. He also disclosed that due to its high toxicity, it had known side effects like colitis and diarrhea.
He added that waiting and watching were the best given the patient’s condition.
It’s possible that his choice to use ipilimumab was questionable. It is an older medication with serious side effects. That would have been a better option now that Keytruda has been given the go-ahead to treat melanoma. However, no protocol was allowed for its availability in 2018.
But as his colleagues point out, he ought to have recognized the ipilimumab side effects as soon as they manifested and performed surgery immediately.
There was, therefore, some negligence present. However, such omissions can occur as a busy chief oncologist in a public hospital. Most likely, his workload was the leading cause.
Qld Oncologist Surrendered His Medical Registration
Paul Norman Mainwaring has resigned from his medical license. He acknowledged that a number of his mistakes in making treatment decisions, such as failing to get second opinions from specialists and failing to keep notes, constituted professional misconduct.
During the tribunal hearing on September 15, Mr. Mainwaring acknowledged that his standard of conduct was significantly below what might have been expected of a registered health practitioner with comparable education and experience.
Dr. Brady also believed that Mr. Mainwaring should have asked a colleague for a second opinion or assistance in managing PB’s treatment because he failed to adequately emphasize the risks and benefits of the therapy.
Mr. Mainwaring gave up his registration in February 2019 and has not practiced for more than three years.
He had permanently retired from his position as a medical oncologist at Canossa Private Hospital before giving up his registration. He stated at the QCAT hearing that he had no plans to resume his practice.
Mr. Mainwaring expressed to the tribunal his regret and regret for his actions and his sympathies for PB’s family for the tragic circumstances surrounding his death. Home