Medical Board of Australia v TXA (No 2)

The Medical Board of Australia referred a disciplinary matter against the respondent, a registered medical practitioner, to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The applicant alleged that the respondent engaged in unprofessional conduct by seeking to initiate a sexual relationship with the wife of a patient, having had a personal relationship with the patient before he became a patient, and by using personal information about the patient, obtained in treating him, to do this. The Tribunal decided that the respondent's conduct in accepting as a patient a person with whom he had a personal relationship amounted to unprofessional conduct. The Tribunal otherwise decided that the practitioner has no case to answer, and no further action is to be taken in relation to the matter in the referral. The further hearing of the referral is adjourned to a date to be fixed. The applicant is directed to file and serve any further written submissions as to sanction within fourteen days of this decision. The respondent may file and serve any further written submissions in reply within fourteen days of being served with the further submissions of the applicant. Unless the associate to the Deputy President of the Tribunal is advised, within thirty-five days of this decision, by either party that a further oral hearing is required, the question of sanction will be decided by the Tribunal on the papers under the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld) s 32, on a date not before then.

The Tribunal rejected the applicant's case that the respondent's knowledge of the patient's erectile dysfunction influenced his decision to propose the sexual relationship to the patient's wife. The Tribunal held that the applicant's case was based on speculation, and there was no evidence to support the applicant's allegations. The Tribunal also held that the respondent was not using his professional position to seek to establish a sexual relationship with the patient's wife, as the social relationship with the wife preceded the professional relationship with the patient, and the other factor which prompted the relationship, the indefinite absence of the patient overseas, came to the respondent's knowledge independently of the professional relationship. The Tribunal held that the respondent's conduct in accepting as a patient a person with whom he had a personal relationship amounted to unprofessional conduct, although it was not a serious example of conduct in that category. The Tribunal decided that no further action is to be taken in relation to the matter in the referral. The further hearing of the referral is adjourned to a date to be fixed. The applicant is directed to file and serve any further written submissions as to sanction within fourteen days of this decision. The respondent may file and serve any further written submissions in reply within fourteen days of being served with the further submissions of the applicant. Unless the associate to the Deputy President of the Tribunal is advised, within thirty-five days of this decision, by either party that a further oral hearing is required, the question of sanction will be decided by the Tribunal on the papers under the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld) s 32, on a date not before then.