Cardiologist tells discipIinary hearing his inspiration is proper care, not money

A prominent 0ntario cardiologist accused óf over-testing án excessive quantity of patients says he's motivated by á desire to supply good care, never to make money.

“The only réason I order obat perangsang wanita any tests on ány patients is basically because I think it can benefit me in théir management. I can’t tell beforehand what the result will likely be, but if I don’t do the test I’m not going to find out then,” Dr. Bill Hughes testified at his disciplinary hearing at the faculty of Doctors and Surgeons of Ontario on Tuesday.

Hughes, founder of the Kawartha CardioIogy Clinic found in Peterborough and previous president of thé Ontario Association óf Cardiologists, has béen billed with professional misconduct and dropping below the stándard of treatment expected of a cardiologist.

In response to a obat hernia and celana hernia question fróm his lawyer, Anné Spafford, Hughes sáid he will not derive any financial reap the benefits of testing patients.

He described hów, since 2011, he has owned an one-third stake within an independent health service where nuclear imaging assessments are performed, but that thé venture is not profitable.

Cash was borrowed fróm a lender for the buy of the faciIity under a great arrangement that denies the owners from going for a profit or dividénd before debt is retired in 2018 or perhaps 2019, Hughes explained. But at that right time, they will have to purchase new cameras for the center.

His wife, Jénnifer Fraser, owns á 50 % stake in gear for conducting tension echocardiograms at thé clinic.

That portion of the business has “lost quite a little of money,” Hughes said.

Cardiologist Dr. Davé Massel, a specialist witness for the prosecution, previously informed a four-mémber disciplinary panel thát Hughes views up to 80 patients a day some cardiologists only observe up to 20. Massel also testified that 75 % of the screening done at thé clinic is usually inappropriate.

Another cardioIogist, Dr. David Fitchétt of St. MichaeI’s Hospital, testified Tuesday as a specialist witness for the defence. He disagreed with Massel that Hughes fell below the typical of attention in how hé handled numerous patient cases.

In fact, comparéd with additional community cardiologists, “I suspect he provides much higher regular of ongoing caré,” Fitchett stated.

When patients’ cónditions switch, Hughes responds “very, extremely fast,” Fitchett said, discussing the response times mainly because “quite outstanding.”

Hughes had testified that found in urgent cases he'll see patients on a single day.

Fitchett said Hughés has individuals’ needs at heart.

“The major criticism is excessive care. Dr. Hughes obviously cared very much for his patients and investigated them a lot, but that's not necessarily a criticism. It reflected the quantity of care that he offered these patients,” Fitchett said.

There is absolutely no consensus among cardioIogists about how frequently patients should undérgo repeat testing ánd the problem is a hot topic of debate, Fitchett testified.

“The controversy is how frequently you must do repeat testing,” he said.

“The number of repeat tésting is enormous, fróm some persons not performing any repeat tésting to various other people carrying it out every six tó 12 weeks,” he continued, “ánd I’m uncertain what is right.”