One supporter said many more people wanted to attend the hearing, but attendance would need to be rotated due to limited space.<\/p>\n
Proceedings were briefly interrupted on Monday morning when counsel for the PCC raised concerns that the hearing was being \u201clivestreamed\u201d online.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the tribunal chair had instructed those present that dissemination or publication of the hearing\u2019s contents was prohibited, and that witnesses giving evidence had name suppression.<\/p>\n
The woman responsible, believed to be connected with an online media platform, admitted making a brief online post and naming a witness.<\/p>\n
Supporters were temporarily asked to leave the room while the tribunal panel spoke with her behind closed doors.<\/p>\n
The person later apologised to the large group gathered outside, saying she had arrived late and had not heard the instructions about the restrictions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did a five-minute update to let the good people of New Zealand know about this amazing hero of a doctor,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The five-member tribunal is chaired by barrister Truc Tran, who explained that the burden of proof rested with the PCC, and the standard of proof was the balance of probabilities \u2013 meaning it must be shown that the allegations were \u201cmore likely than not\u201d.<\/p>\n
Counsel for the PCC, Tim Bain, presented the committee\u2019s opening submissions, outlining what he described as five \u201cbuckets\u201d of allegations against Conlon.<\/p>\n
Counsel for Conlon, Adam Holloway, will present his opening statement and witnesses after the PCC has presented its evidence.<\/p>\n
Bain said the first \u201cbucket\u201d of allegations against Conlon related to public statements the doctor made about the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine and treatments for the virus during a panel discussion in Murupara and in posts on Facebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe allegation from the PCC is that the statements Conlon made were inaccurate or misleading,\u201d Bain said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn particular, they failed to acknowledge the limitations of his own expertise and the fact that he was making statements that were not supported by the general body of medical science available at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second area of concern relates to Conlon importing ivermectin during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Bain said the PCC considered three aspects of this to be problematic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first is probably the simplest \u2013 Dr Conlon broke the law,\u201d he said, alleging that the doctor did not follow procedures under the Medicines Act.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why the medication was seized by Medsafe and why the seizure was upheld by a decision of the District Court.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second concern related to the intended use of ivermectin.<\/p>\n
Bain said Conlon planned to prescribe the medication \u201coff-label\u201d to treat Covid-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time, it was well known that ivermectin was not effective for that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The third issue raised by the PCC was the source and safety of the medication imported from India.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tribunal will hear evidence, for example, that bacteriological contamination was found in many of the tablets tested by Medsafe,\u201d Bain said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they had reached patients, it would have been extremely harmful for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The third \u201cbucket\u201d of allegations concerns treatment and advice Conlon gave to patients during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Bain said the PCC alleged the advice and treatment provided were not consistent with what was known at the time to be the best approach for managing Covid-19.<\/p>\n
The PCC said Conlon did not present this to patients in a balanced way, but rather in a misleading way.<\/p>\n
The fourth area of concern relates to allegations that Conlon offered ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to colleagues.<\/p>\n
The fifth and final allegation concerns Facebook posts Conlon made about another doctor who had written to then-Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins, raising concerns about the way the Murupara Medical Centre was being run.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe PCC says those comments were unprofessional, disparaging and inappropriate,\u201d Bain said, describing the other doctor as effectively acting as a whistle-blower.<\/p>\n
Dr Bernard Conlon arrives wearing a korowai bestowed on him by a Murupara hap\u016b. <\/p>\n
Bain emphasised the tribunal needed to consider Conlon\u2019s actions in the context of the period in which they occurred.<\/p>\n
The events in question took place between 2021 and early 2022, a critical time during the pandemic in New Zealand when vaccines were being rolled out and more was becoming known about the virus.<\/p>\n
Bain said the PCC was not alleging Conlon had acted with malicious intent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is fully accepted that he did what he thought was best for his community,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the PCC says the problem is that Dr Conlon refused to consider the possibility that he might be wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
The PCC alleges that the conduct, either individually or collectively, amounts to professional misconduct, either as malpractice or negligence within Conlon\u2019s scope of practice, and that it has brought or is likely to bring discredit to the medical profession.<\/p>\n
The tribunal began hearing evidence from the PCC\u2019s first witness on Monday.<\/p>\n
Giving evidence via AVL over three hours, the witness, who previously had a placement at the practice as a junior doctor, told the hearing, \u201cDr Conlan had an amazing reputation, and it was considered quite a privilege to get to go out there and work with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy impression was that the community respected Dr Conlan and took what he had to say seriously. I would describe Dr Conlan\u2019s views towards the Covid-19 vaccinations as sceptical.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe expressed a lot of distrust regarding the motivations, the technology, the rate of development of the vaccine, and mostly about the mandate that required doctors to be vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n
The witness described how his concerns with Conlon\u2019s actions relating to the Covid vaccine led to him writing a letter to Hipkins.<\/p>\n
Several anecdotes were shared in the hearing by the witness, which were later tested by counsel for Conlon.<\/p>\n
Humbled and heartened by support<\/p>\n
Speaking after the first day of the hearing, Conlon said he was \u201chumbled and heartened\u201d by the level of support shown by those who attended.<\/p>\n
A kaum\u0101tua was constantly at his side through the hearing, and Conlon arrived wearing a korowai he said had been bestowed on him by a Murupara hap\u016b.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very much a gesture of esteem, but also a desire to protect me and give me protection through this tribunal process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on his long career in the Eastern Bay community, Conlon said he had spent 35 years working in Murupara.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a wonderful life. When I first came to New Zealand as a junior doctor, a patient came from Murupara and I asked the local doctor where Murupara was.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018Murupara – that\u2019s beyond the end of the world\u2019. That description tweaked my interest, and I didn\u2019t realise I would spend 35 years there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conlon said the community had been the main reason he stayed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the people, it\u2019s the people, it\u2019s the people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The practice now has about 4000 enrolled patients and covers an area of about 90 square kilometres.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has also given me the opportunity to practise very old-fashioned medicine,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m my own boss and relatively isolated, which means I have more responsibility and opportunities to practise medicine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI make myself available. People drive up to my house if they need me. After hours, 24\/7.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conlon said earning the trust of the community had been a key priority when he first arrived.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo do that I established an attitude of respect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith that combination of respect and care, trust was established. And with trust comes a fiduciary obligation \u2013 an obligation to give people the full picture when they ask questions, not just one side of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One supporter said many more people wanted to attend the hearing, but attendance would need to be rotated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[26676,169656,169657,81317,7061,6119,111,43,139,69,1523,2766,6847],"class_list":["post-323408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-allegations","tag-bernard","tag-conlon","tag-covid19","tag-doctor","tag-faces","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-treatment","tag-tribunal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}