The BBC reported Monday that Richard Freeman's hearing before the Medical Appeals Tribunal has been postponed until 2020 on "medical grounds."

The hearing was scheduled to continue until this Friday, but was suspended after Freeman's lawyers failed to have the four charges he is contesting dismissed.

The General Medical Council had a list of 22 violations, of which Freeman admitted 18. Freeman refuted the charges related to who he ordered the drugs for and why he ordered them.

The former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor reportedly suffers from bipolar disorder and is too ill to attend the hearing. His attorney, Mary O'Rourke, has other litigation in January and February, so the remaining hearing at this time is tentatively scheduled for late February, a year after the originally scheduled date.

The hearing began on October 28 and was scheduled to last 40 days. The parties have now scheduled the final phase of the hearing for October 2020.

The arguments center on Freeman's motive for issuing the order and whether he believed the drugs would be used to dope the athletes. Freeman initially claimed that the order was issued in error and returned. He now claims that it was done at the behest of former head coach Shane Sutton, who lashed out during cross-examination by O'Rourke after she called him a liar and doping.

Freeman implied that the drugs were intended to treat Sutton's medical condition, which the Australian vehemently denied. O'Rourke attempted to have the charges dropped, arguing that his testimony was inadmissible because Sutton refused to return.

The court disagreed and refused to terminate the hearing. O'Rourke said he needed more time to obtain testimony from more witnesses, to request documents from the Daily Mail, and to obtain a signed declaration from Sutton that he did not dope,

but he said he would not be able to do so.

O'Rourke claims to have testimony from several witnesses who disagree with this assertion.