DEREK ACHONG
Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
The Medical Board has been asked to investigate a doctor who falsely claimed to be a qualified psychiatrist to give expert evidence before a court.
High Court Judge Ricky Rahim made the report yesterday as he resolved an application from five siblings to strike out a lawsuit brought by their 80-year-old mother with dementia based on her mental capacity.
The siblings brought the application after the lawsuit for partition or sale of a three-acre property in Sangre Grande jointly owned by them, which was filed in their mother’s name in January.
Lawyers representing the elderly woman initially presented a report from two doctors, who claimed she was of sound mind.
After Justice Rahim raised concerns that the reports were prepared more than a year before the lawsuit was filed, her lawyers submitted a report from the doctor, who was subsequently reported to the board.
The doctor purportedly performed a series of tests on the woman and expressed the opinion that she was competent to make decisions on her own behalf and manage her own affairs.
Her children presented the evidence of Dr Enal Maharaj, who is a consultant psychiatrist and the head of the Department of Psychiatry/Mental Health Services with the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA).
Dr Maharaj performed his own examination in August 2023 and his findings were diametrically opposed to that of the other doctor.
Dr Maharaj’s evidence was accepted by Justice Rahim as he upheld the siblings’ application.
“It is clear that he performed the required test and that the results as given were based on his expert opinion within the realm of his training and expertise,” Justice Rahim said.
In his judgment, Justice Rahim noted that he had serious concerns over the evidence given by the other doctor.
He said while the doctor was registered with the board as a general practitioner, he was not registered as a psychiatrist.
“In fact he has never completed the DM in Psychiatry and therefore holds no qualification in same,” he said.
Justice Rahim noted that the doctor admitted that he was not properly qualified while being cross-examined before him.
“This evidence was nothing short of astounding but it did of course explain why no notes were attached to the witness’s evidence as ordered by the court and why no details of the findings had been supplied by the court,” he said.
Justice Rahim noted that the doctor claimed to possess the qualification on his official letterhead.
“This borders and perhaps amounts to fraud not only on the parties in this case but also to the public as a whole,” he said.
“In other words he is pretending to be someone he is not,” he added.
Justice Rahim also took issue with his claims in relation to the alleged work he did in the case.
“It was abundantly clear to the court when all of this witness’ evidence was considered that it is more likely than not that he was firstly not qualified to make the assessment as to mental capacity. Secondly, make no such assessment of the claimant but came to court to mislead it to say he did, just as he attempted to mislead it with his evidence that he is qualified in psychiatry,” he said.
Justice Rahim ordered that his judgment be referred to the board by the Supreme Court Registrar to facilitate a probe.
The woman was represented by Stephen Boodram, while Darryl Heeralal represented her children.