Dr. Nelson Nagoor was punished after failing to inform the patient that he had cancer and died in June. Dr. Nagoor, who is now retired and lives in South Africa, was also found to be reckless and to have harmed the medical community’s credibility.

A tribunal hearing was held in Invercargill on Thursday.

The panel’s chair, Alison Douglass, was accompanied by Tim Burns,

Dr. Jan McKenzie, Dr. William Rainger, and Dr. Kristin Good.

while working at the He Puna Waiora Wellness Center in Invercargill,

which is run by the Nga Kete Matauranga Pounamu Charitable Trust.

Invercargill’s family of a cancer patient believes that their final promise

to him has been honored, that his voice has been heard and that they can now grieve.

Nelson Nagoor, Joshua Linder’s prior physician, was judged to have

committed professional misconduct by a Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal.

Dr. Nelson Nagoor was suspended and fined $5,000.

An ex-doctor from Invercargill who failed to inform his patient of his

cancer diagnosis was sentenced, but he was not present.

The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal ruled in October that

Dr. Nelson Nagoor failed to alert patient Joshua Linder that he had a deadly form of melanoma skin cancer.

Nagoor was found to have committed both professional misconduct and clinical negligence, according to the tribunal. Linder later died of cancer.

Evidence was presented to suggest that his lesion had already progressed

when he saw Dr. Nagoor and that an earlier referral would not have changed the outcome.

Dr. Nelson Nagoor requested a histology sample from the lab after removing a lesion from Linder’s back.

Despite getting a report confirming the legion was an invasive superficial spreading primary melanoma

and advising a larger excision, Dr. Nagoor did not act and was unable to inform Linder of the histological results.

Joshua Linder, a cancer patient, died as a result of Dr. Nelson Nagoor’s negligence.

He did not do another excision or that Linder sees a specialist.

According to the panel members, Nagoor was not present when the tribunal

continued to the penalty hearing on Wednesday following his retirement and return to South Africa.

Nagoor’s actions had brought or were likely to bring the medical profession into discredit, according to Tribunal Chairwoman Alison Douglass.

Suspension and Charges Against Dr. Nelson Nagoor

Nagoor was found guilty, his registration was suspended for three months, he was fined $5,000,

and he was ordered to pay $26,000 of the $73,000 in disciplinary proceedings costs.

Nagoor will be forced to practice under supervision for 18 months at his own expense,

as well as undergo a performance evaluation to determine his abilities.

If he returns to the medical industry in New Zealand, he will be barred from working as a solo practitioner for three years.

The proceedings’ director, Jane Herschell, has previously campaigned

for Nagoor’s registration to be canceled and suspended if it was not.

She also argued for a fine, censure, and expense reimbursement.

She went on to say that a general practitioner’s job requires them to be able to read and comprehend a histology report.

Nagoor’s attorney, Adam Holloway, claimed that canceling

Nagoor’s registration in response to an accusation of clinical negligence was only justified in the most severe of situations.

Dr. Nagoor treated Linder in the He Puna Waiora Wellness Center in Invercargill,

which is run by the Nga Kete Matauranga Nga Pounamu Charitable Trust,

between April and May of 2019. Linder’s back’s malignant skin cancer treatment.

Dr. Nelson Nagoor of South Africa presented an affidavit at the preliminary hearing.

He acknowledged, through his attorney, that his actions constituted professional misconduct and apologized.

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The tribunal’s head, Alison Douglass,

declared in October that he had admitted to having “made a mistake.”

Douglass said that the patient records and Linder’s evidence demonstrated unequivocally

that Dr. Nagoor breached his duty of care to Linder by neglecting to notify him of the histology report or schedule an in-person session to do so.

He failed to inform Linder that the lesion was cancerous or malignant.

According to Douglass, the written conclusions of the tribunal show

that Dr. Nagoor informed Linder that the growth was not malignant.

According to Douglass, Dr. Nagoor admitted that his recall was fuzzy

and that Linder may have mistakenly concluded the diagnosis was not cancer.

The tribunal was satisfied, according to Douglass, that Dr. Nagoor failed to effectively inform

Linder that he had advanced malignant melanoma cancer between April 17, 2019, and August 2, 2019.