Surgeon, Dr Austin stripped of duties by Medical Council
Stabroek News
January 28, 2004
A doctor investigated on a charge of negligence has been stripped of his surgical duties.
The Medical Council of Guyana stripped Dr John Austin on January 19 following the investigation of a complaint made by the parents of 11-year-old Omesh Naul, who died in the doctor's private clinic in New Amsterdam, Berbice last year.
According to sources, the child had gone to the doctor to have his tonsils removed and died before the doctor had operated on him. It was stated that the doctor had just placed the child under anaesthesia and was about to operate on him, when he died.
When Stabroek News contacted the council's president, Dr M Y Bacchus, he declined to comment on the issue.
Efforts by Stabroek News to contact Dr Austin yesterday proved futile.
Dr Austin had had a previous problem. Earlier last year, while employed at the New Amsterdam Hospital, he was told he was being transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation following a death in his office. However, the doctor chose to resign from the public health service.
It is expected that the council will publish its decision shortly.