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HEALTH AND MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE LAW AUSTRALIA
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DISCIPLINARY ACTION / MISCONDUCT and HEALTH LAW NEWS
01.03.08 NSW: DR GRAEME REEVES UNDER INVESTIGATION The Bega District News 01.02.08 has reported on their website that the Channel 9 “Sunday” program that will go to air at 10am on Sunday, February 17, will feature a story regarding Dr Graeme Reeves' botched operation of a female patient. The patient entered Pambula Hospital expecting to have a small lesion measuring 20mm in diameter excised from her labia. Instead, an area was removed which measured 95mm by 55mm by 34mm and included her clitoris. According to the article, the patient was awarded $164,000 in damages by the courts last year but has little hope of collecting as the former doctor’s insurers have denied liability and the doctor himself claims he is insolvent. UPDATE: 24.02.08. The Daily Telegraph has reported that Dr Reeves is still not being investigated by the police, the NSW Medical Board or the Health Care Complaints Commission, over the latest allegations. Hundreds of complaints have surfaced from women who received treatment from Dr Reeves in various hospitals in NSW. The hospitals where Dr Reeves has practised include Hornsby Ku-ring-gai, Sydney Adventist Wahroonga, The Hills Private at Baulkham Hills, Royal Hospital for Women and the Bega and Pambula hospitals. UPDATE: 26.02.08. Branded as the "Butcher of Bega" by the media, Dr Graham Reeves has now gone into hiding according to news.com.au. His victims continue to be outraged by the apparent lack of investigation by the New South Wales Medical Board. Some women have alleged that they have been sexually assaulted by this man. UPDATE: 01.03.08. Reba Meagher, the NSW Health Minister has apologised to victims of Graeme Reeves, saying "What I have insisted that New South Wales Health do is make a full assessment and take responsibility for any medical negligence that has occurred." Source: abc.net.au 28.02.08. Police have set-up a strike-force to investigate the claims 28.02.08.
DOB IN A DOCTOR - new laws proposed According to the Sunday Telegraph, the Medical Practice Act for NSW will be amended, requiring mandatory reporting of dodgy doctors in NSW public hospitals. Doctors will be required to dob in their colleagues if they suspect them of engaging in drug and alcohol abuse, gross misconduct. Source: news.com.au 02.03.08. These changes are needed given the fact that Dr Reeves continued to practice despite so many alleged incidents of harm. Why was there an apparent failure by nursing staff and anaesthetists to report this man who allegedly removed women's organs without consent? The question still remains as to why NSW Health employed this man in a public hospital, when he had already been banned from practising obstetrics by the Medical Board.
14.03.08 QLD: Dr Jayant Patel ("Dr Death") : extradition from the U.S delayed The Indian-born surgeon has been linked to the deaths of 17 patients while working at Bundaberg Base Hospital. US officials rejected the QLD DPP's brief of evidence against Dr Patel at least six times between June 2, 2006, and October 2 2007 because it failed to meet the country's standard of proof. It has now been almost three years since the accusations against Dr Patel came to light, and former patients of Dr Patel are still waiting for his extradition from the U.S. One must wonder whether justice will ever be served. Source: news.com.au 21.02.08.
08.12.07 QLD: THREE doctors face disciplinary action and possible deregistration after Queensland coroner found their unsatisfactory professional conduct contributed to the death of a Mt Isa mother of four. Deborah Burgen, 49, sought treatment at Mt Isa hospital's emergency department six times in the 11 days before her admission in February 2005. After she was finally admitted, she was operated on for bowel cancer but died the following day. Coroner found that Dr Rowland, Dr Ross Gallery and anaesthetist Nasseem Ashraf engaged in unsatisfactory professional conduct, and recommended that the Queensland Medical Board take note of his findings and act on them. Source: The Australian 08.12.07
20.11.07 QLD: Ex-health chief to face action on Patel "Dr Death" scandal QUEENSLAND'S former chief health officer, Gerry FitzGerald, faces disciplinary action for his role in the Dr Jayant Patel scandal at Bundaberg Base Hospital after a dogged two-year pursuit by a doctor with the Royal Flying Doctor Service on the other side of the country. Source: news.com.au 20.11.07
08.10.06 Complaints over nurses increase THE number of complaints against Victorian nurses has jumped almost 20 per cent in the past year. And the number of nurses suspended by authorities has also risen. The Nurses Board of Victoria annual report shows there were 162 complaints in 2006, compared with 136 in 2005. Nurse suspensions rose from 14 to 24. Complaints of misappropriation of medication almost doubled, from six in 2005 to 11 this year. 07.10.06 Dr Suman Sood- de-registered REFUSED registration by three states and territories and convicted of performing an illegal abortion, the axe finally fell on the rogue doctor Suman Sood yesterday when she was deregistered by the NSW Medical Tribunal. It found the 57-year-old doctor was "not of good character" and banned her from applying to reregister in NSW for the maximum 10 years. Failed abortions, two ruptured uteruses, a botched circumcision, poor post-operative care, an incorrect cancer diagnosis - the list of accusations levelled at Sood was long and disturbing. 05.10.06 Govt completes investigation into approval of 'unsuitable' doctor
30.09.06 Doctor given reprimand for overdose A JUNIOR doctor who gave a baby boy a huge overdose of glucose that left him brain-damaged has been found guilty of unprofessional conduct. But the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria has let Dr Lea Lee Foo keep her registration. Dr Foo had been busy in the early hours of September 19, 2001, when she accidentally gave the four-week-old baby a solution 10 times stronger than prescribed, a four-member panel found. The baby later developed severe brain damage from the overdose. The board found that Dr Foo's actions were not deliberate, but showed a lack of knowledge and competence. "The public expects a medical practitioner to know basic medical facts, at a level taught in medical schools, and to understand that the interests of a patient's health must be paramount, even though at times to ensure this might put the doctor in a difficult or embarrassing position," panel member Dr Robert Adler said. "We find that this was so blatant an error and so glaringly below proper professional standards, as to constitute unprofessional conduct of a serious nature." But the board decided against cancelling or suspending Dr Foo's medical registration. Dr Adler said Dr Foo was genuinely remorseful for the mix-up and she had gained a lot more experience and knowledge since 2001. Dr Foo was reprimanded by the board. (Herald Sun, 30 September 2006) 12.09.06 Doctor was rejected by other states, tribunal told An abortion doctor wrongly told a patient she had cervical cancer – leading the woman to make funeral plans and choose a burial plot. (Daily Telegraph, 12 September 2006) Sood 'not contesting malpractice allegations'
Psychiatrist loses licence over sex affair payment A PSYCHIATRIST who paid a former patient $100,000 not to report their seven-year sexual affair has lost his medical licence. Dr John Honey was found guilty of serious unprofessional conduct yesterday, after the Medical Practitioners Board ruled he had paid the woman, partly to keep their relationship quiet. The Footscray doctor was banned from practising for at least two years after his conduct was deemed a "breach of trust, misuse of power, and exploitation of a former patient's vulnerability".
01.09.06 Slow response 'contributed to death' A SENIOR Queensland Health doctor was suspended last night and faces at least two investigations over allegations his slow response to an emergency contributed to a patient's death. The unnamed doctor, at Murgon Hospital, 226km northeast of Brisbane, has been accused of being too far away from the hospital for a timely response to gravely ill patients while on call. It's understood the doctor, who eventually attended the emergency but was too late, has been disciplined by Murgon Hospital in the past. (Daily Telegraph, 1 September 2006) Opinion: Doctor heal thyself 30.08.06 Abortion doctor to stop practising Sydney doctor Suman Sood, who has been convicted of performing an illegal abortion, is withdrawing her name from the NSW Register of Medical Practitioners. The withdrawal, effective from tomorrow, means Sood will not be able to practise as a doctor in NSW. 26.08.06 Six die after misdiagnosis SIX people died after a pathologist in northern NSW misdiagnosed their tests, the NSW Government admitted yesterday, but it refused to establish an inquiry to investigate whether the deaths were directly related to the doctor's errors. An independent review of thousands of pathology tests conducted at Tamworth Hospital found 217 patients' tests, some involving diagnoses for serious diseases such as cancer, had significant variations that may have adversely altered treatment and, of those, 38 were seriously affected. The review was sparked when a routine audit in February 2004 revealed that a pathologist, Farid Zaer, had misdiagnosed over 200 patients at Wollongong Hospital. He was suspended and the matter was referred to the NSW Medical Board for further investigation - at that time, the then Illawarra Area Health Service wrote to the New England Health Service, where Dr Zaer had previously been employed. It took the health service two years to start its investigation into his performance and a further five months to complete the audit of 7432 pathology tests on tissue samples conducted between 1999 and 2001. Late yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Hunter-New England Area Health Service said some of the six deaths were "completely unrelated to the pathology tests" but was unable to reveal the nature of the deaths because they occurred in small towns where the person was easily identified. The chief executive officer of the health service, Terry Clout, described the impact on the care provided to at least 18 patients as "quite major", including unnecessary operations and delays in the start of essential treatment. "Regrettably, there have been cases where there appears to have been an error in the original diagnosis that, if known at the time, might have meant the patient received different care. "We have consulted widely with every one of those patients, in conjunction with their medical practitioner and provided support for them." The matter had been referred to the NSW Medical Board, but Mr Clout said it was difficult to draw a definite connection between the mistaken pathology tests and those patients who died. "The pathology tests are only part of the information that a doctor uses in consultation with their patients to determine a course of treatment offered to patients." The NSW Minister for Health, John Hatzistergos, said he was happy for the deaths to be referred to the coroner if further investigations were required and expressed his disappointment with the significant delays in the investigation. The Opposition health spokeswoman, Jillian Skinner, was critical of the delay, saying it amounted to a cover-up and made it difficult to identify other problems in the health system. "[The Premier] Morris Iemma needs to explain why he allowed this to happen on his watch. He was the health minister when this man was sacked from Wollongong Hospital," she said. Dr Zaer has been banned from practising as a pathologist in NSW. A spokeswoman for the Queensland Medical Board confirmed Dr Zaer had general registration in Queensland, but was not registered as a pathologist. Source: Ruth Pollard and Tim Dick. SMH
Now abortion doctor faces push to suspend her
23.08.06 Drug test our docs, says US speaker ALL Australian doctors should submit to drug tests to protect patients from dodgy practitioners. The controversial call, by US patient safety expert Prof Lucian Leape, has raised the ire of doctors who believe mandatory random drug tests are unnecessary. Speaking at the Australasian Conference on Safety and Quality in Healthcare in Melbourne yesterday, Prof Leape said that mandatory drug tests for doctors would save patients from tragic medical mistakes.
20.08.06 Doctor loses appeal A PROMINENT North Adelaide doctor has been banned from practising for a year after losing a second Supreme Court appeal against his suspension. The ruling against Dr Michael Papps follows a unanimous judgment of the Full Court of the Supreme Court. He appealed against his suspension after losing an appeal before a single Supreme Court judge in March last year. The first appeal followed a Medical Practitioners Professional Conduct Tribunal hearing in which Dr Papps was found guilty after admitting to a string of unprofessional conduct charges. His penalty was 12-months' suspension of his registration and other strict restrictions and conditions. The penalty was set aside pending the outcome of Dr Papps' Supreme Court action. He had closed his Melbourne St practice and been working as a locum. The Full Court was Dr Papps' last avenue of appeal in the case, which began in 2001 when complaints were made to the Medical Board of SA concerning his conduct. They included his failure to provide copies of medical notes to doctors assuming care of his former patients, failing to adequately communicate with a rehabilitation service in respect of a patient and failing to communicate adequately with a worker's compensation insurer in relation to a patient. He subsequently admitted the charges of unprofessional conduct and gave the board undertakings in relation to his future conduct as part of his punishment, along with a reprimand. But, in 2004, a complaint was made alleging Dr Papps had failed to comply with the undertakings he had given in 2001. Additional complaints of unprofessional conduct were also made. They included: INAPPROPRIATE public advertising which stated he could help patients "win" personal injury compensation cases and he could refer patients to "expert lawyers to maximise claim". THAT Dr Papps used abbreviations after his name in correspondence to wrongly indicate memberships of various associations. THAT Dr Papps issued inappropriate medical certificates. THAT he excised a mole in inappropriate circumstances, delayed obtaining pathology results and conducted the procedure with inappropriate staff, without proper hand-washing facilities in unhygienic rooms. While Dr Papps admitted the unprofessional conduct, he disputed some of the facts during the tribunal hearing. In the Full Court judgment, Justice Tom Gray said the conduct of Dr Papps "demonstrates a serious disregard for the well-being of his patients" and a disregard for the board. "The practitioner's conduct demonstrates a deep lack of understanding of the proper role of a medical professional when dealing with rehabilitation bodies and with those concerned with medico-legal claims," he stated. "Further, the practitioner demonstrated an incapacity or an unwillingness to organise his practice properly." Justice Gray ruled the suspension, together with conditions imposed on any subsequent practice, were appropriate "to protect the public". Justices Ann Vanstone and Margaret Nyland agreed with Justice Gray's reasons for dismissing the appeal. Dr Papps could not be contacted for comment by the Sunday Mail. (Sunday Mail (SA), 20 August 2006)
18.08.06 Doctors oust child-porn doctor SURGEONS insist that a trainee neurosurgeon will never operate again despite a medical board clearing the way for his return to medicine next year after being convicted on child pornography charges. Dr Stephanopoulos received a five-month suspended jail sentence in July last year on three charges of knowingly possessing child pornography between 2000 and 2003. A spokeswoman for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons said the 31-year-old would not be able to practice surgery in Australia again. "He's been dismissed from our training program," she said. (Herald Sun, 18 August 2006) 17.08.06 Porn doctor wins fight on practice A TRAINEE neurosurgeon who downloaded more than 1000 images of child pornography has won a battle to remain in practice but he will be banned from treating children for almost a decade. The Medical Practitioners Board found Abraham Stephanopoulos, 31, was "obsessed and addicted to pornography". Dr Stephanopoulos was convicted in the Dandenong Magistrates Court last July on three charges of knowingly possessing child pornography between 2002 and 2003. He received a five-month jail sentence suspended for 15 months and a fine. Yesterday the three-member panel ruled that while his crimes were heinous Dr Stephanopoulos was not a pedophile and his actions were a product of stress and anxiety brought on by a heavy workload. The board found it significant that his crimes occurred at his place of work during surgeries and found him guilty of engaging in criminal and unethical conduct and bringing serious discredit on his profession. They suspended his medical registration until March next year and banned him from treating children until 2015. His future registration was conditional on his having regular psychiatric treatment until 2016. (The Age, 17 August 2006)
16.08.06 Strict clampdown on doctors Imposing its first enforcement of standards on medical practitioners in its 162-year history, the Medical Board also requires doctors to tell patients the gap between fees and Medicare rebates, and everything they know about their medical problems.
The board will use the code to judge doctors when it hears complaints about their behaviour. (Advertiser, 16 August 2006)
15.08.06 Criminal past uncovered MORE than a year after the State Government toughened doctor registration in the wake of the Jayant Patel scandal, a Google search has revealed another surgeon with a questionable past. Eugene Sherry has been stood down from his job at Rockhampton Hospital after it was discovered he had served six months in a US jail in 1982 for raping a nurse along with two other doctors. Dr Sherry, who trained in New Zealand and worked in Mackay for six months before moving to Rockhampton three weeks ago, twice failed to reveal the conviction to Queensland authorities. The Medical Board of Queensland, which was tipped off to his past by the Australian Medical Association, has now asked him to show cause why his registration should not be cancelled. The Crime and Misconduct Commission is examining the case. Health Minister Stephen Robertson yesterday ordered criminal history checks to be conducted on all 14,000 doctors working in Queensland. Source: news.com.au Courier Mail online.
Doctor failed to disclose rape conviction: medical board
14.08.06 Rapist doctor spoils election plans ANOTHER medical scandal involving an overseas-trained doctor could derail any plans by Premier Peter Beattie for an early Queensland election. Dr Eugene Sherry, a 53-year-old New Zealand-trained orthopedic surgeon who has practised in the Queensland city of Rockhampton for the past six months, is under investigation after failing to tell the state's medical board he had served a jail term for raping a nurse in 1980. The conviction, for which he served six months jail in the US state of Massachusetts in 1982-83, was not revealed in an audit of overseas-trained doctors, launched last year because of the scandal surrounding Jayant Patel, who was the director of surgery at Bundaberg hospital and was implicated in patient deaths. This was because New Zealand-trained doctors are not considered to be "overseas trained" under an agreement with Australia. See full article by By Paul Osborne- http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20122275-1702,00.html
25.07.06 FORMER Queensland Health boss Steve Buckland has asked the Supreme Court to intervene in a dispute with the Beattie Government over whether taxpayers should cover his legal costs from a Medical Board investigation. In March The Courier-Mail revealed Dr Buckland and former chief health officer Dr Gerry FitzGerald were facing disciplinary action by the Medical Board over the fallout from the scandal involving rogue Bundaberg surgeon Dr Jayant Patel. The pair were the subject of adverse findings and strong criticisms in last year's health inquiry, which uncovered widespread problems in the state's health department. A general practitioner from Western Australia lodged a complaint with the Medical Board about the conduct of the two men, saying that because they were registered as doctors, they also should be held responsible for the bureaucratic decisions they made that contributed to clinical botch-ups. Lawyers for Dr Buckland, who was director-general of Queensland Health before being sacked last July, have filed legal papers in the court's registry seeking a judicial review of a government decision to refuse him indemnity. Source: "Review Sought for Legal Costs" by Amanda Watt and Rosemary Odgers; The Courier Mai 25.07.06.
23.07.06 Anger as child-shock doctor avoids scrutiny Controversial child psychiatrist Selwyn Leeks, who used a bizarre form of electric-shock therapy to punish young children, has escaped scrutiny by promising never to practise again, a day before the start of a long-awaited investigation into his work. (Sunday Age, 23 July 2006)
20.07.06 Forensic doctor to face hearing 07.06.06 Health staff sacked over corpse, porn pics THREE hospital workers, including a mortuary assistant, have been fired for circulating more than a dozen pictures showing dismembered bodies, porn and sadomasochistic acts. Details of the dismissals from hospitals in Sydney's northern suburbs were revealed in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission last week. Vanda Carson http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19390805-23289,00.html
06.06.06 Healthy breast removed in error The patient was admitted to Campbelltown Hospital for a total mastectomy of the left breast, which contained a 2cm malignant tumour. Her healthy right breast was instead removed as a result of the error on a consent form. BRAD CLIFTON, Court Reporter http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,19372720-5001021,00.html
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