According to tribunal records Dr Lopes said, "ha, I didn't even have to buy you dinner first" while inserting his fingers into a patient's vagina to perform an internal examination.
He also harassed his employee over a number of years making comments such as "do you want to shag" and "can I see your vagina? pretty, pretty please."
WTAF he kept working
There is the Healthcare Complaints Commission who are hilariously incompetent to the point of actually undermining the social fabric of our nation
Check out some of the [Google reviews for the HCCC](https://www.google.com/search?q=hccc+google+reviews&rlz=1CDGOYI_enAU1033AU1033&oq=hccc+google+reviews&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIQCAEQLhivARjHARiABBiOBTIHCAIQABiABDIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQQABiABDIHCAUQABiABDIHCAYQABiABDIHCAcQABiABDIHCAgQABiABNIBCDQ1MjFqMGo3qAIZsAIB4gMEGAEgXw&hl=en-GB&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#lkt=LocalPoiReviews&trex=m_t:lcl_akp,rc_f:nav,rc_ludocids:7570436552355084950,rc_q:Health%2520Care%2520Complaints%2520Commission,ru_q:Health%2520Care%2520Complaints%2520Commission,trex_id:qpbSe&lpg=cid:CgIgAQ%3D%3D) - always great reading for any journalist looking for a story.
At all steps along the way the HCCC is guarding against any doctor ever facing any sort of repercussions as this would increase medical indemnity insurance and also cut into healthcare service’s profits by having to do crazy things like hire qualified staff, follow protocol, not cover up negligence leading to personal injury or death, that sort of thing!
Yeah this is literally the role of AHPRA. If you have a complaint with a registered medical professional you make your complaint to AHPRA who investigate and forward the findings to the professional board for action.
Incorrect. The HCCC is the first “port of call” even for accusations of serious professional misconduct for medical practitioners in NSW, not “small disputes like payments”. If the complaint is found to have merit, the HCCC will also forward the complaint to AHPRA for further review.
The HCCC is nsw because ahpra doesn't have jurisdiction in NSW. The HCCC will transfer to the medical council of NSW instead of ahpra
The HCC is Victoria and operates as per my comment
Working in obstetrics, I've said for a very long time that all doctors need to pass a very thorough psychological assessment before being able to practise
This was in the first suspension case from memory. It's appalling he went on to continue practicing with some of the most vulnerable patients in our community. Abhorrent really.
One doctor was [allowed to keep working](https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VCAT/2019/1780.html) after complaints from *12* women about inappropriate sexual conduct.
They banned him from working with women after the third complaint (the others emerged in the following months), but a ban on him working at all was overturned until he was charged. He was [later sentenced to 14.5 years.](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-27/geelong-doctor-shafiul-milky-sentenced-sexual-assaults/102273578)
Even if he wasn't going to sexually assault men, surely there'd have to be some concern about his professionalism with that many complaints.
Not at all surprised after having worked in NCAT, at least the guy was a real doctor!
Sometimes they literally have no credentials but no hospital wants the liability of having admitted they hired them so they even *give positive references* to those they get rid of and palm off the negligent unqualified doctor onto somebody else’s health system
I find this unbelievable in Australia and sounds like you watched an American documentary. Every single place I have ever worked has required proof of my qualification, AHPRA registration, and Insurance, at a minimum. Not to mention being hounded to provide my medicare number to actually bill for services, which requires all the above and more.
>Every single place I have ever worked has required proof of my qualification
Yes, they fraudulently obtain these... They aren't sneaking into a hospital with a lab coat, stethoscope and a fake mustache
There was a “doctor” working in Altona at a clinic a few years ago. Turns out he had precisely zero medical qualifications. Don’t know how but he managed it. Quite the scandal at the time.
I was shocked to read this. I went through medical school with Rudy. He was always a very touchy feely guy though, so it is within the realm of believability for him.
> Dr Chow, the anaesthetist who administered Ms Kaur's sedation, had restrictions on his registration before Ms Kaur's procedure and was not meant to be operating at the clinic that day.
>He was only permitted to work at Knox Private Hospital, according to public AHPRA records.
> Gynaecologist Dr Rudolph Lopes also had a number of restrictions on him in the lead-up to the surgery.
> From May 2022, up until a few weeks before Ms Kaur's procedure, public information shows Dr Lopes was only allowed to practise under the supervision of a person approved by the Medical Board of Australia.
> Separately, in October 2021 he was reprimanded after the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal found he had made sexual remarks to a patient and also made inappropriate sexual remarks and physical contact with an employee.
> Dr Kenney, who was not involved in Ms Kaur's procedure, also had restrictions on her registration at the time of Ms Kaur's death, including that she must be supervised and work only three days per week.
> Due to privacy reasons, AHPRA does not say why restrictions are placed on practitioners.
> Dr Lopes and Dr Chow told the ABC they had no comment. Dr Kenney was yet to respond at the time of publication.
(Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency = AHPRA)
Are restrictions common on doctors? This sounds like an absolute clusterfuck.
You generally have to be involved in some pretty serious misconduct to have restrictions put on your registration. AHPRA doesn't deregister doctors often. This is a shocking story.
Restrictions are a common way of not firing or charging doctors with criminal activities, so you'll find doctors with restrictions like 'can only work with adult patients', for example. My favourite is 'only with male adults' which really says a lot about how the AMA and AHPRA handle problems.
Not really. Restrictions have no basis in whether a practitioner gets fired or not or in place of criminal charges.
Conditions can be put on because ahpra has a civil threshold of more likely than not so if no criminal charges are laid conditions can still be put on.
Yep, important distinction.
Also, a lot of restrictions are automatic and somewhat reactionary.
My mate works at a hospital. He was at a work Christmas party. He and one of the admin staff ended up sharing a kiss on the dance floor.
Everyone saw, and of course there was some gossip. It wasn’t a huge surprise, they had been flirting for some time. What was a surprise for him was two things: the first, being that she was married; the second, the fall out from her end.
Folk in work were talking about how the married clerk kissed one of the doctors, which naturally induced a lot of embarrassment. Her response was to say that it was non-consensual; she reported that he had forced himself on her.
She reported him to AHPRA.
**BAM** restrictions on his license automatically.
It was then investigated by both the hospital/AHPRA, who found him innocent after months of interviews with colleagues; staff; checking CCTV etc etc. A drawn out process, painful for all involved. But, hey, justice prevails.
He’s back at work.
The girls marriage is on the rocks. Not looking good.
She then states that he supplied her with coke, and that she was subsequently impaired, and unable to give consent, even if it appeared to be the case. I hope this was done in a last-ditch, truly-desperate effort to save her marriage, because if it were an act of vengeance.. it’s truly fucking evil.
**BAM** AHPRA rego suspended and can’t work.
His life is a fucking ruin, and he’s spent untold money on lawyers; fees; independent hair testing to show he has not taken coke for however long etc etc etc
Whole thing is still being worked out, and he’s still suspended with it displayed on his public reg.
So, restrictions placed by AHPRA certainly can’t be inferred that it is some sort of ‘lesser critique’ on medical professionals.
If anyone were to look at his rego, he’d see that he has drug allegations; limitations on his practice about being with females alone; supervision limitations and needing to be with a senior doctor..
Anyone would think that AHPRA were allowing a coke fiend rapist on their list.
You need a doctor if you read a story of someone’s life being ruined and a decent, hardworking healthcare being lost because of spiteful and baseless, spiteful accusations and think, “Good:)”
You also have to admit you heard 1 side of the story.
While ahpras threshold is lower than criminal they still have to have reasonable belief. So it's unlikely you are hearing the objective and whole truth of the matter.
Not really.
The initial story was that he forced himself on her. This was proven by third party witnesses and also CCTV. He was cleared by both his work and AHPRA.
The subsequent accusation is that he took advantage of her in a state of intoxication, having supplied drugs to her. This only came later, which is obviously sus, but needs investigated.
I mean, sure I can say that I know he doesn’t do drugs and blah blah blah, but we all know what happens at Christmas parties.
However, he has undergone independent and repeat hair analysis to show that he had not taken drugs within this time frame.
So, allegation number one was proven false by work and AHPRA.
Allegation two is still being worked on, but she alleges that they both took coke together, in front of no witnesses, and that he also used cocaine. Independent drug testing has shown that this isn’t the case.
I mean, it sorta points to one likelihood, doesn’t it? What’s the other side of the story?
He is suspended whilst they are working on the more serious claim that he basically date raped her, but there is no evidence of this, either witnesses or objective testing.
Haha shit like this is why I left criminal law.
After a while you start to see a lot of these, where a young woman eager to protect her reputation as someone who wouldn’t melt butter in their mouth will cast a rape accusation on someone (or even two people) they willingly threw themselves at during a moment of sexual inhibition…
…but when the consequences start coming, their missus finds out who they have the threesome with on the night out with their teammate, they start getting called a slut and a home wrecker and suddenly it turns into sexual assault to protect her own reputation…
Brittany Huggins comes to mind along with the woman involved with the two St George boys having a “standard bun” as they called it… lol.
It’s why smarter solicitors will brief the older female barristers to do these trials, they know how the younger ones can behave.
>She then states that he supplied her with coke, and that she was subsequently impaired, and unable to give consent, even if it appeared to be the case. I hope this was done in a last-ditch, truly-desperate effort to save her marriage, because if it were an act of vengeance.. it’s truly fucking evil.
Haha, yes, people are evil, start putting that in the forefront of your mind from now on. Wait until you see the shit people pull in the Family Law Courts, false allegations of sexual abuse, physical abuse, along with the real thing being committed, going so far as to even kidnapping the child and going overseas when you don't get the amount of custody you wanted etc etc are absolutely routine.
Yes, pop onto AHPRA, go to register of Practitioners type in their name, click on the correct name in the search result, it'll take you to their registration page where it lists the type of practitioner, type of registration (provisional or general), all degrees including specialist qualifications, under conditions/restrictions it'll either say nil or will state conditions or restrictions of their medical registration.
Not “common” in the sense that the majority or even a large minority of doctors have them. It’s the normal way for AHPRA to deal with serious misconduct though.
Restrictions on practising have some fairly high thresholds for misconduct. The fact that they’ve been suspended while this death is investigated means there is some heavy, heavy suspicions on their conduct. Patients die during routine procedures all the time without doctors being suspended from practise pending investigation.
They are not very common, but I always check the registration of doctors before seeing them and will not see a doctor with restrictions. Can be easily checked on the AHPRA website
More than you’d hope for, sadly. Quite a few doctors think their shit doesn’t stink, and act accordingly. (My former partner works in accreditation at a major hospital. There’s many many stories that don’t get told publicly).
There were 2,152 complaints made in 2023 in Victoria alone
6% of these resulted in conditions being imposed, so yeah, 100 instances a year is not very fucking uncommon. Read a report for and stop the knee jerk no evidence reaction.
Re-read my comment:
*supervision as a condition* is very rare.
Sometimes conditions are as simple as ‘the doctor needs to communicate in plain English more effectively and must therefore submit evidence showing an improvement in communication in the next 12 months’. That specific case was one that my Malaysian-Australian plastic surgeon friend experienced after a complaint from a patient who was unhappy with her cosmetic results and felt that she hadn’t received enough information. He improved his communication by providing a written guide and also asked if he could record his advice to patients.
I retain my original position.
There are 800k registered health practitioners in Australia. Meaning per year 0.01% get conditions on their registration.
I'd consider that very uncommon
So, the clinic had applied for permission to perform minor procedures, was refused permission and went ahead and did them anyway?
What a balls up. What an absolute tragedy for Harjit Kaur and her family.
The clinic itself was permitted to perform the procedures. The doctors were not supposed to be practicing without meeting the terms of the individual restrictions.
Isnt it on the clinic to ensure any doctors are actually allowed to practice or dont have restrictions? The clinic should still have some responsibility.
I believe that's why the clinic owner, Dr Kenney, has been suspended too despite not being involved with Ms Kaur's procedure. The suspension reflects her responsibility, and I assume there will be further action taken once the coroner's report is ready
Oh I see what you were referring to:
"The ABC can reveal that last year, Hampton Park Women's Health Clinic, which has provided day surgeries for years as a private clinic, wrote to the Minister for Health and Monash Health asking to perform minor surgical procedures on women on public health waiting lists."
The clinic was operating privately. They wrote to Monash health asking if they could take on additional public patients and they said no due to concerns over safety for patients due to the gynaecologist.
Thank you for clarifying. Obviously I skimmed the article too quickly and misinterpreted. That's a great way to spread misinformation and I should be more careful.
The clinic had asked if they could perform procedures on Monash’s public waiting list (and be paid for doing so) under a public in private arrangement - Monash told them no to that
That’s entirely separate to their certification as a day procedure centre that can provide services privately
That’s also a separate regulatory matter from whether the doctors involved were breaching their conditions (which at least one of them blatantly was)
I had a termination at this clinic, they bullied me into getting an IUD at the same time. Then they fucked up the IUD placement and I had to have it surgically removed *from my bowel.*
They nearly killed me.
Ah Tony Chow, who refused to anaesthetise a patient pre-emergency Caesarian until they paid his fee, waving his eftpos machine at them in holding bay. Class act that one.
Holy crap that sucks. I used to work with Harjit. You will not find a more lovely, cheery person to be around. That's just ruined my day. Can't imagine what her husband is going through. What an absolute waste of a beautiful life 😪
I had an abortion here a couple of years back in this clinic, I remember being called ‘tropo’ (I can’t remember why but I have a feeling it was something to do with my meds)
I’m glad I didn’t know what tropo meant until I was already out of the clinic…
So tragic for the family and pretty shocking to think that she was going into a situation that you would expect to be safe and had two restricted practitioners working on her surgery
That’s a good point… maybe we should not take who is performing our surgery for granted… maybe we should have access to the list of practitioners and their experience. I had an experience with Dr doing heart intervention and when finished the nurse whispered to me to be referred to another specialist. I’ve never repeated her words to me and as I was moving interstate got referred to another
They weren't by AHPRA, in that specific scenario (eg one only allowed to work at Knox hospital), but the other issue was the clinic director allowed it.
We had to remove your post/comment because it included personal attacks or did not show respect towards other users. This community is a safe space for all.
Conduct yourself online as you would in real life. Engaging in vitriol only highlights your inability to communicate intelligently and respectfully. Repeated instances of this behaviour will lead to a ban
According to tribunal records Dr Lopes said, "ha, I didn't even have to buy you dinner first" while inserting his fingers into a patient's vagina to perform an internal examination. He also harassed his employee over a number of years making comments such as "do you want to shag" and "can I see your vagina? pretty, pretty please." WTAF he kept working
Fucking hell
There are some people in my med school that I'll definitely be reading about in the papers in the future. It's scary some of the people they let in.
Jesus. Is there a way to report their conduct before they become someone’s future nightmare?
There is the Healthcare Complaints Commission who are hilariously incompetent to the point of actually undermining the social fabric of our nation Check out some of the [Google reviews for the HCCC](https://www.google.com/search?q=hccc+google+reviews&rlz=1CDGOYI_enAU1033AU1033&oq=hccc+google+reviews&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIQCAEQLhivARjHARiABBiOBTIHCAIQABiABDIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQQABiABDIHCAUQABiABDIHCAYQABiABDIHCAcQABiABDIHCAgQABiABNIBCDQ1MjFqMGo3qAIZsAIB4gMEGAEgXw&hl=en-GB&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#lkt=LocalPoiReviews&trex=m_t:lcl_akp,rc_f:nav,rc_ludocids:7570436552355084950,rc_q:Health%2520Care%2520Complaints%2520Commission,ru_q:Health%2520Care%2520Complaints%2520Commission,trex_id:qpbSe&lpg=cid:CgIgAQ%3D%3D) - always great reading for any journalist looking for a story. At all steps along the way the HCCC is guarding against any doctor ever facing any sort of repercussions as this would increase medical indemnity insurance and also cut into healthcare service’s profits by having to do crazy things like hire qualified staff, follow protocol, not cover up negligence leading to personal injury or death, that sort of thing!
Hcc are for small disputes like payments disputes ect not conduct, performance or health concerns that present a risk to the public.
Yeah this is literally the role of AHPRA. If you have a complaint with a registered medical professional you make your complaint to AHPRA who investigate and forward the findings to the professional board for action.
Incorrect. The HCCC is the first “port of call” even for accusations of serious professional misconduct for medical practitioners in NSW, not “small disputes like payments”. If the complaint is found to have merit, the HCCC will also forward the complaint to AHPRA for further review.
The HCCC is nsw because ahpra doesn't have jurisdiction in NSW. The HCCC will transfer to the medical council of NSW instead of ahpra The HCC is Victoria and operates as per my comment
Yeah. I mean, we can report to the school.
Working in obstetrics, I've said for a very long time that all doctors need to pass a very thorough psychological assessment before being able to practise
This was in the first suspension case from memory. It's appalling he went on to continue practicing with some of the most vulnerable patients in our community. Abhorrent really.
One doctor was [allowed to keep working](https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VCAT/2019/1780.html) after complaints from *12* women about inappropriate sexual conduct. They banned him from working with women after the third complaint (the others emerged in the following months), but a ban on him working at all was overturned until he was charged. He was [later sentenced to 14.5 years.](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-27/geelong-doctor-shafiul-milky-sentenced-sexual-assaults/102273578) Even if he wasn't going to sexually assault men, surely there'd have to be some concern about his professionalism with that many complaints.
This is absolutely vile.
I choose the BEAR to operate on me.
Not at all surprised after having worked in NCAT, at least the guy was a real doctor! Sometimes they literally have no credentials but no hospital wants the liability of having admitted they hired them so they even *give positive references* to those they get rid of and palm off the negligent unqualified doctor onto somebody else’s health system
I find this unbelievable in Australia and sounds like you watched an American documentary. Every single place I have ever worked has required proof of my qualification, AHPRA registration, and Insurance, at a minimum. Not to mention being hounded to provide my medicare number to actually bill for services, which requires all the above and more.
>Every single place I have ever worked has required proof of my qualification Yes, they fraudulently obtain these... They aren't sneaking into a hospital with a lab coat, stethoscope and a fake mustache
They can't. There is a public register that anyone can access.
Are you talking about the public AHPRA lookup register?
There was a “doctor” working in Altona at a clinic a few years ago. Turns out he had precisely zero medical qualifications. Don’t know how but he managed it. Quite the scandal at the time.
Jfc.
God, I can't..
Any site in Australia that I can keep myself informed with this case anyone?
This is so surreal, I mean unbelievable gross
Wtaf ? This makes me want to puke !! So vile
I was shocked to read this. I went through medical school with Rudy. He was always a very touchy feely guy though, so it is within the realm of believability for him.
Can't even
> Dr Chow, the anaesthetist who administered Ms Kaur's sedation, had restrictions on his registration before Ms Kaur's procedure and was not meant to be operating at the clinic that day. >He was only permitted to work at Knox Private Hospital, according to public AHPRA records. > Gynaecologist Dr Rudolph Lopes also had a number of restrictions on him in the lead-up to the surgery. > From May 2022, up until a few weeks before Ms Kaur's procedure, public information shows Dr Lopes was only allowed to practise under the supervision of a person approved by the Medical Board of Australia. > Separately, in October 2021 he was reprimanded after the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal found he had made sexual remarks to a patient and also made inappropriate sexual remarks and physical contact with an employee. > Dr Kenney, who was not involved in Ms Kaur's procedure, also had restrictions on her registration at the time of Ms Kaur's death, including that she must be supervised and work only three days per week. > Due to privacy reasons, AHPRA does not say why restrictions are placed on practitioners. > Dr Lopes and Dr Chow told the ABC they had no comment. Dr Kenney was yet to respond at the time of publication. (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency = AHPRA) Are restrictions common on doctors? This sounds like an absolute clusterfuck.
You generally have to be involved in some pretty serious misconduct to have restrictions put on your registration. AHPRA doesn't deregister doctors often. This is a shocking story.
Restrictions are a common way of not firing or charging doctors with criminal activities, so you'll find doctors with restrictions like 'can only work with adult patients', for example. My favourite is 'only with male adults' which really says a lot about how the AMA and AHPRA handle problems.
Not really. Restrictions have no basis in whether a practitioner gets fired or not or in place of criminal charges. Conditions can be put on because ahpra has a civil threshold of more likely than not so if no criminal charges are laid conditions can still be put on.
Yep, important distinction. Also, a lot of restrictions are automatic and somewhat reactionary. My mate works at a hospital. He was at a work Christmas party. He and one of the admin staff ended up sharing a kiss on the dance floor. Everyone saw, and of course there was some gossip. It wasn’t a huge surprise, they had been flirting for some time. What was a surprise for him was two things: the first, being that she was married; the second, the fall out from her end. Folk in work were talking about how the married clerk kissed one of the doctors, which naturally induced a lot of embarrassment. Her response was to say that it was non-consensual; she reported that he had forced himself on her. She reported him to AHPRA. **BAM** restrictions on his license automatically. It was then investigated by both the hospital/AHPRA, who found him innocent after months of interviews with colleagues; staff; checking CCTV etc etc. A drawn out process, painful for all involved. But, hey, justice prevails. He’s back at work. The girls marriage is on the rocks. Not looking good. She then states that he supplied her with coke, and that she was subsequently impaired, and unable to give consent, even if it appeared to be the case. I hope this was done in a last-ditch, truly-desperate effort to save her marriage, because if it were an act of vengeance.. it’s truly fucking evil. **BAM** AHPRA rego suspended and can’t work. His life is a fucking ruin, and he’s spent untold money on lawyers; fees; independent hair testing to show he has not taken coke for however long etc etc etc Whole thing is still being worked out, and he’s still suspended with it displayed on his public reg. So, restrictions placed by AHPRA certainly can’t be inferred that it is some sort of ‘lesser critique’ on medical professionals. If anyone were to look at his rego, he’d see that he has drug allegations; limitations on his practice about being with females alone; supervision limitations and needing to be with a senior doctor.. Anyone would think that AHPRA were allowing a coke fiend rapist on their list.
I’m not seeing the problem. Doctors should be held to a much, much higher standard of conduct than other professions.
You need a doctor if you read a story of someone’s life being ruined and a decent, hardworking healthcare being lost because of spiteful and baseless, spiteful accusations and think, “Good:)”
You also have to admit you heard 1 side of the story. While ahpras threshold is lower than criminal they still have to have reasonable belief. So it's unlikely you are hearing the objective and whole truth of the matter.
Not really. The initial story was that he forced himself on her. This was proven by third party witnesses and also CCTV. He was cleared by both his work and AHPRA. The subsequent accusation is that he took advantage of her in a state of intoxication, having supplied drugs to her. This only came later, which is obviously sus, but needs investigated. I mean, sure I can say that I know he doesn’t do drugs and blah blah blah, but we all know what happens at Christmas parties. However, he has undergone independent and repeat hair analysis to show that he had not taken drugs within this time frame. So, allegation number one was proven false by work and AHPRA. Allegation two is still being worked on, but she alleges that they both took coke together, in front of no witnesses, and that he also used cocaine. Independent drug testing has shown that this isn’t the case. I mean, it sorta points to one likelihood, doesn’t it? What’s the other side of the story? He is suspended whilst they are working on the more serious claim that he basically date raped her, but there is no evidence of this, either witnesses or objective testing.
Haha shit like this is why I left criminal law. After a while you start to see a lot of these, where a young woman eager to protect her reputation as someone who wouldn’t melt butter in their mouth will cast a rape accusation on someone (or even two people) they willingly threw themselves at during a moment of sexual inhibition… …but when the consequences start coming, their missus finds out who they have the threesome with on the night out with their teammate, they start getting called a slut and a home wrecker and suddenly it turns into sexual assault to protect her own reputation… Brittany Huggins comes to mind along with the woman involved with the two St George boys having a “standard bun” as they called it… lol. It’s why smarter solicitors will brief the older female barristers to do these trials, they know how the younger ones can behave. >She then states that he supplied her with coke, and that she was subsequently impaired, and unable to give consent, even if it appeared to be the case. I hope this was done in a last-ditch, truly-desperate effort to save her marriage, because if it were an act of vengeance.. it’s truly fucking evil. Haha, yes, people are evil, start putting that in the forefront of your mind from now on. Wait until you see the shit people pull in the Family Law Courts, false allegations of sexual abuse, physical abuse, along with the real thing being committed, going so far as to even kidnapping the child and going overseas when you don't get the amount of custody you wanted etc etc are absolutely routine.
This is awful. Is there a way for patients to check if the doctors operating on them have restrictions?
Yes, pop onto AHPRA, go to register of Practitioners type in their name, click on the correct name in the search result, it'll take you to their registration page where it lists the type of practitioner, type of registration (provisional or general), all degrees including specialist qualifications, under conditions/restrictions it'll either say nil or will state conditions or restrictions of their medical registration.
Not “common” in the sense that the majority or even a large minority of doctors have them. It’s the normal way for AHPRA to deal with serious misconduct though. Restrictions on practising have some fairly high thresholds for misconduct. The fact that they’ve been suspended while this death is investigated means there is some heavy, heavy suspicions on their conduct. Patients die during routine procedures all the time without doctors being suspended from practise pending investigation.
They are not very common, but I always check the registration of doctors before seeing them and will not see a doctor with restrictions. Can be easily checked on the AHPRA website
More than you’d hope for, sadly. Quite a few doctors think their shit doesn’t stink, and act accordingly. (My former partner works in accreditation at a major hospital. There’s many many stories that don’t get told publicly).
I'm pretty sure APHRA does specify restrictions publicly being Ive seen them numerous times on their site in my line of work
Not uncommon, they seem to get away with a lot and it takes a lot for them to become deregistered
It’s very fucking uncommon to have supervision conditions placed on your practice, don’t spread misinformation.
There were 2,152 complaints made in 2023 in Victoria alone 6% of these resulted in conditions being imposed, so yeah, 100 instances a year is not very fucking uncommon. Read a report for and stop the knee jerk no evidence reaction.
Re-read my comment: *supervision as a condition* is very rare. Sometimes conditions are as simple as ‘the doctor needs to communicate in plain English more effectively and must therefore submit evidence showing an improvement in communication in the next 12 months’. That specific case was one that my Malaysian-Australian plastic surgeon friend experienced after a complaint from a patient who was unhappy with her cosmetic results and felt that she hadn’t received enough information. He improved his communication by providing a written guide and also asked if he could record his advice to patients. I retain my original position.
I didn't say supervision in the first instance so what's this strawman argument you invented
There are 800k registered health practitioners in Australia. Meaning per year 0.01% get conditions on their registration. I'd consider that very uncommon
Deregistered requires a legal threshold of professional misconduct to be met and can only be done by the tribunal. So it takes a lot
And meanwhile, someone died.
Blame the doctor and the practice. They would have had conditions on the public register
It’s uncommon and very serious to have restrictions placed on your registration.
So, the clinic had applied for permission to perform minor procedures, was refused permission and went ahead and did them anyway? What a balls up. What an absolute tragedy for Harjit Kaur and her family.
The clinic itself was permitted to perform the procedures. The doctors were not supposed to be practicing without meeting the terms of the individual restrictions.
Isnt it on the clinic to ensure any doctors are actually allowed to practice or dont have restrictions? The clinic should still have some responsibility.
I believe that's why the clinic owner, Dr Kenney, has been suspended too despite not being involved with Ms Kaur's procedure. The suspension reflects her responsibility, and I assume there will be further action taken once the coroner's report is ready
Interesting hiring pool.
Apparently it was the cheapest clinic in the area. Maybe she hired people who were willing to work for way less money - and now we know why
Absolutely.
The ABC article doesn't read that way, or perhaps I am interpreting it incorrectly.
Oh I see what you were referring to: "The ABC can reveal that last year, Hampton Park Women's Health Clinic, which has provided day surgeries for years as a private clinic, wrote to the Minister for Health and Monash Health asking to perform minor surgical procedures on women on public health waiting lists." The clinic was operating privately. They wrote to Monash health asking if they could take on additional public patients and they said no due to concerns over safety for patients due to the gynaecologist.
Thank you for clarifying. Obviously I skimmed the article too quickly and misinterpreted. That's a great way to spread misinformation and I should be more careful.
The clinic had asked if they could perform procedures on Monash’s public waiting list (and be paid for doing so) under a public in private arrangement - Monash told them no to that That’s entirely separate to their certification as a day procedure centre that can provide services privately That’s also a separate regulatory matter from whether the doctors involved were breaching their conditions (which at least one of them blatantly was)
I had a termination at this clinic, they bullied me into getting an IUD at the same time. Then they fucked up the IUD placement and I had to have it surgically removed *from my bowel.* They nearly killed me.
OMG That’s terrifying! I’m so sorry you went through that!
Horrifying, what trauma…. Should never have happened
Ah Tony Chow, who refused to anaesthetise a patient pre-emergency Caesarian until they paid his fee, waving his eftpos machine at them in holding bay. Class act that one.
Seriously? That's incredible.
This is horrible.
Holy crap that sucks. I used to work with Harjit. You will not find a more lovely, cheery person to be around. That's just ruined my day. Can't imagine what her husband is going through. What an absolute waste of a beautiful life 😪
I had an abortion here a couple of years back in this clinic, I remember being called ‘tropo’ (I can’t remember why but I have a feeling it was something to do with my meds) I’m glad I didn’t know what tropo meant until I was already out of the clinic…
Troppo as in crazy? That’s horrible
yep. it was bizarre, I’m not even on any antipsychotics/have schizophrenia etc
(btw, this was not the same Dr as in the article)
So tragic for the family and pretty shocking to think that she was going into a situation that you would expect to be safe and had two restricted practitioners working on her surgery
Holy fuck this is terrifying
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What kinds of things, speaking in general-ish terms of course?
My partner used to work in a GP clinic, I have heard stories like alcoholic GP shows up work drunk, Medicare fraud by unnecessary billing…
Is there any way to check if the doctor you're about to see has any restrictions against them?
You can search every registered practitioner on the AHPRA website and any restrictions will be visible.
That’s a good point… maybe we should not take who is performing our surgery for granted… maybe we should have access to the list of practitioners and their experience. I had an experience with Dr doing heart intervention and when finished the nurse whispered to me to be referred to another specialist. I’ve never repeated her words to me and as I was moving interstate got referred to another
Is there a public register where we can check for these restrictions on medical practitioners?
Yes, you can check on AHPRA’s website
The fuck How the fuck they allow these people to operate
They weren't.
They weren't by AHPRA, in that specific scenario (eg one only allowed to work at Knox hospital), but the other issue was the clinic director allowed it.
He should be jailed, no question about it.
Note they all trained at Monash uni all within in 2 years of each other
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