A doctor whose patient and lover died of a morphine overdose has been suspended for nine months and ordered to pay $120,000 in costs.
The Auckland-based doctor, who has name suppression, was found guilty of professional misconduct by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal.
The tribunal says that treating a patient while in an intimate relationship with him amounts to malpractice and brings discredit to the profession.
It also says her keeping of inaccurate and inadequate clinical notes and prescription records and the failure to appropriately transfer her patient amounts to negligence.
