A consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician who has been struck off the register of the UK General Medical Council for professional misconduct in relation to two female patients has brought a High Court challenge to a decision by the Irish Medical Council to conduct an inquiry into the same incidents.
Dr Sebastian Borges, an Irish citizen, with a previous address at Wick, Scotland, and now resident somewhere in Scotland, remains on the IMC's register of medical practitioners.
In an affidavit, he said that he, his wife and teenage son had been followed, threatened and shouted at in the street by an associate of one of the persons who had made a complaint against him. Throughout proceedings in the UK, he and his family had been subjected to intrusions by the media, and in September 2001 he suffered a heart-attack. They moved to another area of Scotland where they now enjoyed anonymity.
Dr Borges said the Irish inquiry should not be allowed to go ahead as it would only use transcripts of the UK hearings because the two women complainants in the UK proceedings had refused to come to Ireland. As a result, he would not have the benefit of fair procedures as he would not be able to cross-examine them.
Mr Nicholas Butler SC, for Dr Borges, said his client, who is in his mid-50s, was in poor health and due to undergo major heart surgery. He qualified in 1974, practised in Tralee, Cork and Dublin hospitals in the 1980s.
He was a consultant in Caithness Hospital, Scotland, from 1994 to 1999 and at the Whittington Hospital in London from February 2000 to October 2001. In November 2001 he was served with notice of inquiry by the UK General Medical Council, alleging professional misconduct in relation to two women patients.
Dr Borges was found guilty. Mr Butler said his client had appealed to the Privy Council, which concluded that the charges on their own could be described as relatively minor but, taken together, showed a readiness by Dr Borges to exploit his patients.
Dr Borges has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights against the findings of the GMC and Privy Council and has denied any wrongdoing or any professional misconduct.
Mr Butler said his client had a right, under Irish legislation, to confront his accusers, but the the Fitness to Practise Committee of the IMC had been told the women had refused to come to Ireland to give evidence.
Mr Butler said the GMC examination of one of the two complainants was tortuous. She had claimed that Dr Borges had touched her breasts from behind as she was dressing. A doctor had given evidence to the GMC that the woman suffered from anxiety and had been on drugs given to persons with psychiatric disorders. Mr Butler said these were all elements which gave rise to a reasonable doubt in any inquiry.
In the case of the other woman, she had been a midwife in the same hospital as Dr Borges. They had been colleagues for a considerable time. He had performed a vaginal scan when she was pregnant. A transponder coated with gel and covered with a condom was moved in and out of her vagina until a good image was obtained on a screen.
The woman complained the transponder was prepared in a sexually inappropriate way but did not complain about the way it was used. Her evidence had been that she had felt uncomfortable when Dr Borges was preparing the transponder.
The IMC has rejected Dr Borges's claims. Its registrar, Mr Brian V. Lea, said in an affidavit that strenuous efforts had been made to secure the attendance of witnesses from the UK.
The transcripts and rulings of the GMC and Privy Council would not be the only evidence at the proposed inquiry, and it would include expert witnesses. Dr Borges would have a right to cross-examine any witness and could call witnesses in his defence.
Mr Justice Ó Caoimh reserved judgment.