Struck off GP can practise acupuncture

A family doctor struck off the medical register after being found guilty of professional misconduct is free to continue practising acupuncture.

Donald Ian McDonald pleaded guilty to breaching his position of trust by accepting $260,000 from an elderly couple in exchange for "free" medical care.

A Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal sitting in Auckland last week also found the GP guilty of failing to provide the couple with an adequate standard of care.

McDonald has admitted to being Donald and Vivienne Blows' acupuncturist since the 1970s and was their GP between 1999 and 2005. He accepted four instalments totalling $260,000 from the couple between 1998 and 2004.

He has been censured, fined $15,000 and ordered to pay 30% of costs of the inquiry.

Donald Blows died in December last year, aged 83. His wife Vivienne, 84, is in a nursing home suffering from dementia.

The Blows' niece Betty Morgan told the Sunday Star-Times that her family was "very pleased" McDonald had been struck off.

"This is what my aunt and uncle would have wanted. We couldn't have asked for anything more."

The family has initiated civil proceedings to recover the money. It is understood action will be taken to change Vivienne's will after McDonald was named as a beneficiary.

Morgan said she was glad McDonald's name was public, to avoid other vulnerable patients being taken advantage of. But she understood he was still free to practise acupuncture.

New Zealand Register of Acupuncuturists' president Paddy McBride said under current legislation, effectively "anyone is able to practise acupuncture".

A process was, however, under way to include acupuncture in the list of practitioners covered by the Health Practitioners Competency Assurance Act but it may take more than a year.

McDonald was not a member of the Register of Acupuncturists and McBride recommends consumers stick to practitioners who were members.