A HIGH COURT judge has expressed concern about a doctor’s qualifications and questioned his credibility.
The judge has also ordered the registrar of the Supreme Court to forward his ruling, delivered on July 25, to the Medical Board because of the “potential harm” to the public.
Justice Ricky Rahim made the order in a ruling on an application filed by five siblings to have set aside their 80-year-old mother’s claim for the partition and sale of a little over three acres of land in Savana Grande in Princes Town, on the basis she did not have the mental capacity to make such a decision. The five are also co-owners of the property.
Medical certificates were submitted as evidence in support of the woman’s application, dated May 2022 and August 2023, purporting she was of sound mind. The judge found these to be unhelpful, as one was dated and the other “exceptionally vague.”
Another, from a doctor based in San Fernando, submitted in March, claimed the woman was competent to make decisions on her behalf and manage her affairs.
The woman’s children then applied to have the doctor’s evidence struck out.
In support of the application, the children provided an affidavit from a consultant psychiatrist who had also examined their mother. After doing several neurocognitive disorder tests, the doctor found she was not of sound mind and did not have the mental capacity to safely manage her property and affairs. He also formed the opinion that she suffers from early dementia, on the basis of her scores.
Part of this doctor’s evidence was notes on the woman’s behaviour, as told to him by her relatives. She allegedly accused them of stealing from her after a large sum of money was withdrawn from her account, and would also randomly ask friends for money when she met them in public. There were also recordings of her sending accusatory voice messages to her children, but later in the day, she would send messages telling them how much she appreciated their support. She also accused them of trying to poison her.
In an interview with her, the doctor said she told him she wanted to sell the house because she was afraid of her relatives. His tests showed she had paranoid delusions about her relatives, impaired concentration and was unaware of her memory problem. He also formed the opinion she was “unknowingly confabulating answers to compensate for her memory impairment.”
“One of the documented symptoms of early dementia is paranoia, which causes fluctuation in her cognitive functioning and judgment.
“Due to this impairment of judgment he was of the view that the claimant is not of sound mind and does not have the mental capacity to safely manage her property and affairs.”
Both doctors were cross-examined and the judge said the answers the San Fernando-based doctor gave at the beginning of this process by caused him “serious concerns.”
Rahim said it had been disclosed that this doctor was not a qualified psychiatrist registered with the Medical Board, did not complete the doctorate in medicine (DM) in psychiatry,
