By Stuart Eustice, Partner and Holly White, Associate

Nursing & Midwifery Board of Australia v Lloyd [2024] VCAT 293 (3 April 2024)

A nurse was reprimanded after the Tribunal found she had engaged in professional misconduct after she failed to maintain professional indemnity insurance and falsely and misleadingly declared on her yearly registration renewal forms that she had the required cover for four years.

Nursing & Midwifery Board of Australia v Bechara [2024] VCAT 320 (9 April 2024)

A nurse was reprimanded, disqualified from applying for re-registration for one year, and prohibited from providing any health service until gaining re-registration after the Tribunal found she had engaged in professional misconduct. The NSW nurse’s registration had been suspended after she failed to comply with conditions imposed on her registration in connection with her provision of cosmetic treatments, however came to Victoria and provided cosmetic treatments including the possession and use of Schedule 4 poisons without the patient having consulted with a medical or other registered health practitioner and without a prescription. Prior to the Tribunal hearing the case, the nurse’s registration had been cancelled with a disqualification period to 16 November 2024 by the Civil and Administrative Tribunal of NSW. The Victorian Tribunal imposed a further 1 year disqualification period.

Nursing & Midwifery Board of Australia v Easdon [2024] VCAT 321 (10 April 2024)

A nurse was reprimanded, had his registration cancelled and is disqualified from applying for re-registration for one year after the Tribunal found he had engaged in professional misconduct. The nurse was practising as an anaesthetic theatre nurse and was found to have touched a female patient on the breast and groped the patient’s breast on another occasion. The nurse admitted his conduct and self-notified to Ahpra. During the investigation, the nurse undertook not to practice and had not practised for more than four years by the time the Tribunal considered the case. He had also plead guilty to two counts of sexual assault and complied with the requirements of a community corrections order.

Chiropractic Board of Australia v Gooch [2024] VCAT 328 (11 April 2024)

A chiropractor has been reprimanded and had conditions imposed on his registration after the Tribunal found he had engaged in professional misconduct. The chiropractor had failed to hold professional indemnity insurance cover, recklessly made false declarations to the Chiropractic Board when renewing his registration and failed to notify the Board he no longer held insurance as required by the National Law.

Osteopathy Board of Australia v Canagasabai [2024] VCAT 358 (19 April 2024)

An osteopath has been reprimanded after the Tribunal found he had engaged in professional misconduct after he failed to comply with conditions imposed on his registration for drug screening, tested positive for non-approved or prescribed substances and practising while unsupervised. The osteopath had conditions on his registration after he self-notified he had been receiving psychiatric treatment for borderline personality disorder and amphetamine addiction. The osteopath had already served a 20 month period of suspension and surrendered his registration in November 2021, the Tribunal decided not to impose a disqualification period on his registration.

Medical Board of Australia v Pham [2024] VCAT 388 (29 April 2024)

A GP has been reprimanded, suspended for three months and had conditions imposed on his registration for education, mentoring and practice audit after the Tribunal found he had engaged in professional misconduct. The Tribunal found the GP had engaged in a range of conduct including failure to maintain adequate medical records, failure to seek authority as required to obtain a permit relating to Schedule 8 poisons, medication errors, failure to maintain professional boundaries etc.

Medical Board of Australia v Gopal [2024] VCAT 380 (30 April 2024)

A doctor has been reprimanded, had his registration cancelled, had a 15-year disqualification period imposed and is prohibited from providing any health service until re-registered after the Tribunal found he had engaged in professional misconduct.

In 2012, Ahpra received two notifications regarding the doctor’s conduct to two patients and the Board suspended his registration. In 2013, the doctor was convicted of raping both patients and jailed. In 2014, the Board decided not to take further action because the doctor’s registration had expired, he was serving a term of imprisonment and was likely to be deported. After serving his sentence, the doctor went to India, where he presently resides.

In 2021, the Board received a third notification regarding an inappropriate examination of a third patient and repealed its decision to take no further action and continued its investigation. The Board referred the matter to VCAT and the doctor was not involved in the proceeding. The doctor’s registration was cancelled because when the Board took immediate action in 2012, the suspension continued resulting in the doctor remaining registered for the Tribunal’s purposes.

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia v Wilson [2024] VCAT 405 (6 May 2024)

An enrolled nurse has been reprimanded and disqualified for re-applying for registration for nine months after the Tribunal found he had engaged in professional misconduct. The nurse had engaged in boundary violations, persisting in communication with patients outside of the therapeutic relationship and been charged with stalking a patient. The nurse had not worked since 28 January 2020 and his registration lapsed on 30 June 2022.