Doctor facing sanction for medical record misconduct

Friday 29 October 2021

A tribunal has concluded that a Jersey GP’s fitness to practise is “impaired” after he accessed the medical records of patients who were not his own without their consent.

Dr Michael Edwin Vincent was accused of accessing the medical records of 13 patients on “one or more occasions” between 5 March and 5 July 2018.

It was argued that this was “inappropriate” as the patients were not his own, and there was therefore “no clinical reason for him to access their records and he did so without their consent.”

Dr Vincent admitted accessing the records of two women – neither of whom were his patients or had given him their consent – when he did not have a clinical reason to do so.

He also admitted accessing the medical records of up to 11 other patients on more than one occasion. However, it was not proven whether all of these were not his patients, whether he accessed the records without their consent and whether he did so without a clinical reason.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal considered whether Dr Vincent, who qualified at the University of London in 1981, was impaired as a result in a hearing held on Microsoft Teams between 18 and 26 October.

“By reason of the matters set out… your fitness to practise is impaired because of your misconduct,” Tribunal Chair Duncan Toole concluded.

However, the panel ran out of time to decide what sanction, if any, Dr Vincent should face.

This will be confirmed at a future hearing which is yet to be scheduled.