A Christchurch urologist’s jokes about rectal examinations of Māori prison inmates during a Queenstown conference has sparked the resignation of the society's leading medic.
In a complaint to the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand (USANZ), Rawiri Blundell, a member of national Māori cancer group Hei Āhuru Mōwai, said the comments at the November 14 conference were among the most offensive and ill-informed he had ever heard.
The comments were made during a panel-led debate about whether Māori men’s reluctance to undergo a digital rectal examination prevented them from being screened for prostate cancer.