A patient claimed a GP told her to
stop taking medication and took her to a Pentecostal church where she
underwent an exorcism instead, a General Medical Council report has revealed.
Dr Thomas Gerard O'Brien was working as a locum GP in Staffordshire when he treated the woman - who had been prescribed anti-depressant, anti-hypertensive and pain-relief medication.
The patient, who has not been named, claimed she stopped taking medication after Dr O'Brien told her ‘there is another way’.
She said he gave her lifts to a
Pentecostal church in Stoke-on-Trent, where she was advised that ‘God is
her surgeon and God will heal her’.
The patient also claimed Dr O'Brien sent her books and pamphlets about the church - which he ran with another person.
The woman also alleged she was subjected to a four-hour 'testimony' where an exorcism was performed on January 19 this year.
She claimed that Dr O'Brien specifically told her not to tell her psychiatrist about the meetings and told her ‘she would be cursed’ if she told the GMC.
The patient ignored this advice and complained to her psychiatrist - who then rang a confidential helpline to report her allegations.
They were then reported to the GMC's Interim Orders Panel, who found that there ‘may be impairment of Dr O'Brien's fitness to practise which poses a real risk to members of the public’.
The panel imposed a series of conditions on Dr O'Brien's registration for 18 months, including that he must confine his medical practice to posts within the NHS.
He must also notify the GMC of any professional appointments he accepts and allow the GMC to exchange information with his employer.
The GMC's primary concern was that Dr O'Brien was allowing his religious beliefs to influence patient care.
A report on his case said: ‘The panel is concerned about Dr O'Brien's apparent lack of insight into the seriousness of the allegations against him.
‘The panel is further concerned that Dr O'Brien may have also imposed his religious beliefs with regard to the treatment of another patient. Dr O'Brien admitted in representations to giving another patient a religious DVD so they could make up their mind about treatment.’
Dr O'Brien denied all of the accusations against him, calling them ‘attacks’ on his ‘private Christian faith and life’.
He said he was a lay Bible teacher who did not run a Pentecostal church and described the statement about the exorcism as ‘a total fabrication’.
Dr O'Brien, who did not attend the GMC hearing, admitted in statements he had formed a friendship with the patient, helping her daughter to move and giving her lifts to the church for several weeks.
Dr Thomas Gerard O'Brien was working as a locum GP in Staffordshire when he treated the woman - who had been prescribed anti-depressant, anti-hypertensive and pain-relief medication.
The patient, who has not been named, claimed she stopped taking medication after Dr O'Brien told her ‘there is another way’.
Reading material: The patient claimed Dr O'Brien sent her books and pamphlets about the church (file picture)
The patient also claimed Dr O'Brien sent her books and pamphlets about the church - which he ran with another person.
The woman also alleged she was subjected to a four-hour 'testimony' where an exorcism was performed on January 19 this year.
She claimed that Dr O'Brien specifically told her not to tell her psychiatrist about the meetings and told her ‘she would be cursed’ if she told the GMC.
The patient ignored this advice and complained to her psychiatrist - who then rang a confidential helpline to report her allegations.
They were then reported to the GMC's Interim Orders Panel, who found that there ‘may be impairment of Dr O'Brien's fitness to practise which poses a real risk to members of the public’.
The panel imposed a series of conditions on Dr O'Brien's registration for 18 months, including that he must confine his medical practice to posts within the NHS.
He must also notify the GMC of any professional appointments he accepts and allow the GMC to exchange information with his employer.
Journeys: The patient said the GP gave her lifts
to a Pentecostal church in Stoke-on-Trent (file picture), where she was
advised that 'God is her surgeon and God will heal her'
A report on his case said: ‘The panel is concerned about Dr O'Brien's apparent lack of insight into the seriousness of the allegations against him.
'It appears that Dr O'Brien may
have allowed his professional and private boundaries to become blurred,
in particular with a vulnerable patient. The panel is further concerned
that Dr O'Brien may have also imposed his religious beliefs with regard
to the treatment of another patient'
‘It appears that he may have allowed
his professional and private boundaries to become blurred, in particular
with a vulnerable patient.
General Medical Council report
‘The panel is further concerned that Dr O'Brien may have also imposed his religious beliefs with regard to the treatment of another patient. Dr O'Brien admitted in representations to giving another patient a religious DVD so they could make up their mind about treatment.’
Dr O'Brien denied all of the accusations against him, calling them ‘attacks’ on his ‘private Christian faith and life’.
He said he was a lay Bible teacher who did not run a Pentecostal church and described the statement about the exorcism as ‘a total fabrication’.
Dr O'Brien, who did not attend the GMC hearing, admitted in statements he had formed a friendship with the patient, helping her daughter to move and giving her lifts to the church for several weeks.