The doctor at the centre of allegations about the doping of as many as 150 athletes, including Premier League footballers, has argued against allegations that he gave a cancer patient false hope of recovery.
Harley Street specialist Dr Mark Bonar has been giving evidence to a medical watchdog over the allegations that he offered the patient a form of potentially dangerous intravenous feeding. He said he did not keep the patient in the dark that her condition was terminal
Earlier this year Bonar, 38, was caught on tape in a sting by a national newspaper saying that he had had treated sportspeople, including footballers, boxers, cyclists and tennis players, with banned substances such as steroids and human growth hormone.
He told the Sunday Times he had not breached General Medical Council (GMC) rules, and that doping regulations were the responsibility of individual athletes.
Bonar, who is not registered to practise medicine, gave evidence at a misconduct hearing for allegedly failing to inform a patient her cancer was terminal, so that he could keep charging her for treatment.
The doctor, who reportedly charges private patients £150 for a 15-minute appointment, also allegedly told the American woman she could not receive emergency NHS treatment as she was not a British citizen.
It was only when two nurses realised her situation was critical that she got treatment. She died two months later aged 46.
Bonar and fellow treating medic, Dr Siegfried Trefzer, 58, have denied a string of misconduct allegations at the hearing in Manchester.
Giving evidence, Bonar has claimed that the woman knew there was no cure and that he was simply fulfilling her wishes to “hold on to as many days as she could in this world”.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service was previously told Bonar treated the woman after she fell ill with cervical cancer.
She moved to London in October 2012 to be closer to her sister and stayed at the £450-a-night Athenaeum Serviced Apartments in Mayfair where nurses, carers and hotel staff could see to her needs.
She was kept on an intravenous drip for eight hours a day and given nutritional supplements but her care by an “unqualified entourage” was described as “chaotic”.
The GMC claims that neither doctor took “overall responsibility” for her care and they both “failed her”.
But Bonar has insisted he was merely following a treatment plan said to have improved her quality of life and that she had already been informed by numerous medics that she was dying.
Gary Summers, Bonar’s counsel, told the panel the nurses’ version of events was disputed and they had “tried on several key issues to pull the wool over your eyes”.
He said the woman – referred to as Patient A – had been told by a number of medical professionals during 2013 that her condition was terminal.
Summers said: “He discussed with Patient A her prognosis. Patient A certainly knew that. She knew that from several professionals who ... were far higher up the medical chain than Dr Bonar. It was simply not an issue.”
He claimed that Bonar treated the patient free of charge for six months in the five-star apartments because the woman and her family did not want NHS treatment.
Summers described it as a “nightmare scenario” that was meant to be temporary.
She was offered total parenteral nutrition (TPN) – a form of intravenous feeding which carries risk of infection and blood imbalances.
The hearing heard she was not told of the risks or the fact the treatment would not provide any cure.
Summers said: “Patient A was desperate to hold on to as many days as she could in this world. What was Dr Bonar to do ... throw up his hands and indicate that he was refusing to do anything for this patient or was he to look at the circumstances, checking the position in relation to TPN and try to fulfil the patient’s wishes?
“That was his patient’s wishes. It is simple as that.”
Charles Garside QC, counsel for the GMC, has previously said the patient was kept in the dark about her prognosis that her cancer was incurable.
The medics looking after the patient were described as having little experience of administrating this type of nutrition treatment.
The hearing was told that neither doctor had ever carried out a similar treatment before.
In May 2013, the woman was admitted to the Wellington Hospital for a medical procedure.
While receiving treatment, scans showed the cancer had spread and medics realised the only treatment required would be palliative care.
But when she went back to see Bonar, neither he nor the fellow medic told her about the results of the scans, it is alleged.
Instead, they allegedly continued to treat her at the Athenaeum apartments where she hoped for a cure.
Two nurses came to the view in December 2013 that palliative care was needed rather than TPN.
But when they expressed their concerns Bonar he allegedly told them: “Your opinions are valueless because you are just nurses and I am a doctor.”
Patient A was referred to the NHS on 27 January 2014.
The hearing continues.
• This article was amended on 14 April 2016. An earlier version said the medical practitioners tribunal service “was previously told Bonar, who practises from the Omniya clinic in central London, treated the woman after she fell ill with cervical cancer”. Omniya has asked us to clarify that Patient A was never treated at its clinic, and that it terminated its contract with Bonar on 1 April after finding out that his licence to practise had been withdrawn by the General Medical Council.
