THE PRESIDENT OF the High Court has ruled that a General Practitioner who has allegedly told a patient that the Covid-19 pandemic is “a hoax” should be temporarily suspended from practising medicine.
In a recently published judgement Ms Justice Mary Irvine said she was granting orders suspending the practising certificate of Dr Gerard Waters, pending the outcome of any full disciplinary proceedings into allegations against him.
Dr Waters who is aged in his early 70s is based in Celbridge, in Co Kildare.
The application seeking Dr Waters’ suspension was heard by the President before Easter in private.
The court’s decision has been made available to the public.
In her judgement Ms Justice Irvine said the Medical Council received a complaint about the GP from a patient who attended at his surgery in September 2020, with a suspected chest infection who was concerned they may have Covid-19.
After being told that Dr Waters surgery could not refer patients for Covid-19 tests, the patient attended a different doctor. The other doctor said the patient’s symptoms were not consistent with Covid-19 and that it was likely that the patient had a chest infection.
The patient returned to Dr Waters’ surgery.
In the surgery the patient says that he saw a pamphlet entitled “No pandemic killing us”.
The patient alleges that he was treated to a barrage of nonsense “about the hoax that is Covid-19″ by Dr Waters, the judge said.
It is also alleged that Dr Waters also told the patient that the government were scamming the people, and that wearing of masks was causing illness and that people who had died from the illness had not actually died from the virus.
The patient also claims that Dr Waters told him that his own symptoms were caused by the mask the patient was wearing, describing it as “the silly f**king thing” the patient was wearing, the judge said.
After thinking “long and hard” about the situation the patient decided to make a complaint due to his belief that what the doctor said was dangerous and undermining messages given by public health professionals trying to manage the current global public health emergency.
Arising out of the complaint the medical council contacted Dr Waters. He admitted setting out his point of view on Covid-19 to the patient, but claims he did so in a professional manner, the judge said.
In her judgement Ms Justice Irvine said in a response to the allegations Dr Waters expressed his views regarding the government’s handling of Covid-19 pandemic and his research regarding the pandemic.
