Doctor who forged letter from Blackrock Clinic to stay at luxury hotel during pandemic found guilty of professional misconduct

A doctor who forged a document from the Blackrock Clinic in order to stay at an upmarket boutique hotel in Dublin “for essential purposes” during the Covid-19 pandemic has been found guilty of professional misconduct.

An inquiry by the Medical Council found three allegations proven that the doctor, Milan Minic, had engaged in disgraceful and dishonourable behaviour through the forgery of the letter and misrepresenting his need for accommodation at the Mayson Hotel on North Wall Quay in Dublin as an essential healthcare worker.

The council’s Fitness-to-Practise committee was informed at a hearing in September that Dr Minic had subsequently sought to make a reservation for a “warehouse cosy room” for two nights “on the highest floor available” at the hotel in the Dublin docklands.

At the time Dr Minic had his own private accommodation on the other side of the River Liffey at an address in Dublin 2.

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Giving its ruling on Thursday, the committee said it was satisfied that Dr Minic was the author of a letter falsified to purport as coming from the Blackrock Clinic seeking accommodation at the hotel which was only open to guests deemed essential workers during the pandemic.

The committee’s chairperson, Joseph McMenamin, said it was “abundantly clear” that Dr Minic would have known the content of the e-mail seeking a reservation at the hotel with the attached letter purportedly from the Blackrock Clinic was “untrue.”

Prof McMenamin noted that the Blackrock Clinic was using two other hotels at the time for its staff – the Talbot and the Burlington.

He also observed that the forged letter used to seek accommodation at the Mayson Hotel on April 21st, 2021, was purportedly signed by the clinic’s HR business partner, Claire Poole.

However, Ms Poole gave evidence that she had not authored the letter although it looked like her signature.

Staff at the Blackrock Clinic became aware of the false document after the hotel carried out a verification check on Dr Minic’s booking.

The inquiry heard evidence that Dr Minic had already twice had a request for temporary hotel accommodation refused by the Blackrock Clinic in the previous seven months.

The committee found a separate allegation that Dr Minic had breached the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 over his alleged failure to respond to a request from the Medical Council for information relating to the complaint against him as not proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Prof McMenamin said it was possible that Dr Minic may not have had any information to give the Medical Council and might not have replied to the request for that reason.

The Canadian doctor, who worked as a resident medical officer in the Blackrock Clinic before being dismissed in May 2021, did not attend the hearing.

Dr Minic had originally sought an adjournment of the inquiry in April 2023 when he queried if it could proceed if related criminal proceedings were also ongoing.

However, he had no further engagement with the Medical Council since July 2023 after it had already twice adjourned the inquiry in order to facilitate him.

Prof McMenamin said the committee had approached the inquiry on the basis that Dr Minic had made no admissions and that all the facts were disputed.

He said the committee had drawn no inference from Dr Minic’s absence and non-participation as well as his failure to respond to correspondence from the Medical Council.

Counsel for the Medical Council, Caoimhe Daly BL, said correspondence sent to Dr Minic’s e-mail address about Thursday’s hearing had been read, although transcripts of the inquiry had not been downloaded.

The inquiry arose following a complaint by the head of HR at the Blackrock Clinic, Patricia Nolan, who claimed Dr Minic had engaged in fraudulent and dishonest conduct by forging a document purporting to come from the clinic.

Prof McMenamin said the committee’s recommended sanction on Dr Minic, which will not be made public, will be notified to the Medical Council in due course. Any sanction imposed by the Medical Council has to be formally ratified by the High Court.