GP prescribed ‘toxic’ medication to Covid-19 patients, inquiry hears

A doctor prescribed medication with “known toxicity” to patients who presented with Covid-19 during the pandemic, a fitness-to-practise inquiry has heard.

Dr Patrick Morrissey of Adare Medical Centre, who faces 39 factual allegations, continued with his cross-examination on Monday of Colin Bradley, a retired general practitioner.

Bradley is a professor of general practice and is the expert witness for Dr Maria O’Kane, chief executive of the Medical Council.

O’Kane alleges Morrissey, while working at the centre, prescribed hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, and co-prescribed azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine to a number of patients who had Covid-19 symptoms or who received a Covid-19 diagnosis.

Hydroxychloroquine is used to manage autoimmune conditions including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, while ivermectin is used to treat parasitic infection.

Azithromycin is an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections such as pneumonia, strep throat and skin infections.

O’Kane alleges Morrissey’s prescribing of these medicines in respect of Covid-19 symptoms and diagnosis was contrary to the prescribing guidelines of the Health Service Executive, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the guide to professional conduct and ethics for registered medical practitioners.

Bradley said on Monday that the co-prescribing of azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine in a community setting gave rise to “serious issues” and amounted to disgraceful or dishonourable conduct in a professional sense.

He said that the prescribing of ivermectin was “not as serious” as prescribing hydroxychloroquine, as the latter had “known toxicity”.

He agreed with Morrissey that there was not a general prohibition on the use of off-label medication.

An off-label medicine is an authorised medicinal product being prescribed or used outside the terms of its approved summary of product characteristics.

Bradley told the committee at a hearing in July that tweets posted by Morrissey from December 2020 to September 2021 amounted to poor professional performance and professional misconduct.

Bradley reiterated on Monday that although his area of expertise is limited regarding virology – including in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic – this did not preclude him from evaluating the advice given by public-health authorities including the EMA during the pandemic.

He said these authorities came to “scientific conclusions guided by medical practise”.

He disagreed with Morrissey, who asked him was he not “relying on other people’s interpretation of the evidence”.

“They [the EMA] were not taking this off the top of their heads ... Their recommendations were based on studies,” Bradley said.

[ GP alleged to have undermined public health policy during Covid faces hearingOpens in new window ]

Bradley also said that for a pharmaceutical company to obtain a licence for their product to be approved they are required to pay a fee to the EMA.

He said that although “minor deviation” from public-health advice on the part of doctors would not amount to poor professional performance, this was not the case here.

He said the case involved “significant and persistent deviation” on the part of Morrissey.

Bradley was critical of Morrissey’s reliance on the findings of a website which indicated that ivermectin could be an effective treatment for Covid-19.

Bradley said the website’s findings had “deficiencies” including that they were based on “a lot of small studies of poor quality”.

He told Morrissey he did not recall describing Covid-19 vaccines as “experimental” but said these vaccines were perhaps not as fully evaluated as other vaccines due to the global public-health emergency.

Bradley said Covid-19 vaccines were “gene-based therapy” as they used genetic matter including MRNA or RNA to create an antigen which stimulates an immune-based response to the virus.

However, with gene therapy, the genetic information of the DNA of the subject is changed, he said.

Bradley said he thought people were confused between MRNA treatments and gene therapy.

About 20 people attended the inquiry on Monday in support of Morrissey including Dr Gerard Waters, Dr Billy Ralph and Dr Marcus de Brun.

The committee will reconvene at a future date yet to be announced.