{"id":8467,"date":"2014-10-31T11:08:05","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T15:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=8467"},"modified":"2014-10-31T11:08:05","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T15:08:05","slug":"ramlogan-disturbed-by-lack-of-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=8467","title":{"rendered":"Ramlogan disturbed by lack of charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Andre Bagoo
\nOctober 31 2014 – newsday.co.tt<\/A><\/I><\/p>\n

Cocaine PacksATTORNEY General Anand Ramlogan yesterday said he was \u201cgravely disturbed\u201d by the lack of charges in relation to a report of a doctor failing to notify law enforcement authorities about cocaine said to have been surgically removed from the body of a patient. He did so as he called on Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams to continue a probe into the matter.
\n
\nOn Wednesday, Williams said Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Kathy Ann Waterman-Latchoo had advised that there was \u201cno evidence at this point in time which can be used to pursue prosecution against the surgeon nor the patient.\u201d Williams said the matter was \u201cthoroughly investigated over several months by the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau.\u201d However, he said the police would continue to explore the matter.<\/p>\n

At yesterday\u2019s Cabinet media briefing, Ramlogan stated, \u201cI find it an entirely unsatisfactory and unacceptable state of affairs…I am gravely disturbed that this can occur.\u201d He said the precedent being set was not in the interest of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sets a most dangerous precedent for our country. It involves a known method of drug transfer,\u201d Ramlogan said. \u201cI therefore would ask that the (Acting) Commissioner of Police continue the investigations, with the advice of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).\u201d He stated the country risked becoming a laughing stock.<\/p>\n

The Attorney General further said doctor-patient confidentiality was not a shield to criminality. He said, \u201cIf a doctor uses patient confidentiality as a shield for criminal wrongdoing, then that must be a cause for concern. Doctors are obliged to report criminal offences, whether it is a case of a child showing signs of sexual or physical abuse or whether it is cocaine being removed from one\u2019s stomach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ramlogan continued, \u201cYou ought to inform the police, retain possession so that the due process of law and order can take its course….It would seem here that there was a complete abdication of responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted the facts of the case remained in dispute with several unanswered questions. For example, he asked, was full and frank disclosure made by the patient before the surgery? Ramlogan also stated there were certain expectations of the Medical Board of Trinidad and Tobago.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne would have expected that the medical board would have treated this matter with the urgency it requires,\u201d he said. He dismissed as an \u201cexcuse\u201d the argument that a doctor may be fearful for their own life, stating all citizens face the same fears but are nonetheless obliged to fulfil their civic responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not accept that as ample justification for what transpired in this matter,\u201d the Attorney General said.<\/p>\n

www.newsday.co.tt\/news\/0,202273.html<\/A><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Andre Bagoo October 31 2014 – newsday.co.tt ATTORNEY General Anand Ramlogan yesterday said he was \u201cgravely disturbed\u201d by the lack of charges in relation to a report of a doctor failing to notify law enforcement authorities about cocaine said to have been surgically removed from the body of a patient. He did so as … Continue reading Ramlogan disturbed by lack of charges<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[305,33,5,186,178,7],"tags":[394,393,548,44,359,1015,49],"class_list":["post-8467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drug-trade","category-health","category-international","category-law","category-media","category-politics","tag-anand-ramlogan","tag-attorney-general","tag-cocaine","tag-crime-in-tt","tag-newsday","tag-politics","tag-tt-govt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8468,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8467\/revisions\/8468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}