GP in court over trials allegation

GP in court over trials allegation

7 November 2012

A DOWNPATRICK GP who is facing allegations he forged patient documents to make money from a clinical drugs trial, is under “awful pressure” his solicitor has claimed.

Fifty five year-old Hugh McGoldrick faces 12 separate charges relating to a period between November 2007 and June 2008.

The allegations relate to a contract he undertook for a clinical research company in which he tested a new sleeping tablet on 10 patients suffering from insomnia.

His is accused of forging consent forms, falsifying records relating to the weight of patients, making false claims about urine samples, breaching drug trial protocols and making a false representation that a named person was suitable for the trial.

McGoldrick, of Crossgar Road East, appeared at Downpatrick Court on Thursday where his solicitor said the case has become an “awful pressure” on the doctor and his business.

He said an “extremely expensive” clinical trial expert has been hired to look through the evidence.

The lawyer claimed that some evidence could point towards “misconduct” on the part of the company that commissioned the trials.

“Dr. McGoldrick could be viewed as collateral damage to that company.”

District Judge Greg McCourt adjourned the case until January and said it was “an extremely technical and difficult case.”