The medical negligence case involving former gynaecologist Richard Reid continues, with a former patient alleging that he examined scans from other patients to justify pelvic mesh surgeries in 2010 and 2011.
The plaintiff in the case, who was in her 30s at the time of the surgery, alleges that Reid used scans from others, including one who was aged 72 at the time, to make a diagnosis and recommendations for surgical treatment, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. leading to a series of grave medical issues including pelvic pain, sexual dysfunction, neurological symptoms – as well as anatomical changes.
An ongoing matter
The suit in question was originally filed in 2013, while Reid was still a practising physician, the report said. He retired in 2016.
The issue at the centre of the case is whether the surgeries should have been performed at all. Professor Andrew Korda, an expert in obstetrics and gynaecology, told the court in a report that the woman – who consulted Reid after being sexually assaulted – should not have had any surgery at all at the time of the procedure, the newspaper said. There was no evidence in the patient's records to suggest that Reid explained the risks of such a surgery.
In a preliminary judgement regarding the case, Justice Mark Ierace noted that Reid has admitted to some of the allegations in the suit, but others remain in dispute, the Morning Herald added. The New South Wales Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case in November.
Previous developments
Reid has previously been found guilty of misconduct in other cases, including two pelvic mesh surgeries in 2013, with a tribunal saying in 2018 that it would have barred him from practising medicine for a period of five years, according to a Morning Herald article published last year. However, by that point Reid – now 77 years old – had already retired from his profession.
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