Tung v Health Care Complaints Commission of NSW and ANOR

The case of Tung v Health Care Complaints Commission of NSW and Anor involved a medical practitioner whose registration was under threat of deregistration. The plaintiff argued that they were misled by a Medical Board legal officer regarding the timeframe for lodging an appeal against the Professional Standards Committee's recommendation for deregistration. The plaintiff sought a stay of the order for deregistration made by the Chairperson of the Medical Tribunal and reinstatement of their registration pending the appeal. The court was tasked with determining whether the plaintiff lost their opportunity to appeal due to the Chairperson's order and whether this constituted a breach of procedural fairness.

The legal issues before the court were whether the plaintiff's opportunity to appeal was effectively lost and whether the order for deregistration breached the requirements of procedural fairness. The court examined whether the statutory scheme under the Medical Practice Act 1992 provided adequate procedural protections and whether the plaintiff's registration could be reinstated pending the appeal. The court also considered the impact of the plaintiff lodging an appeal before the Chairperson's order was made, and whether this affected the validity of the deregistration order.

The court found that the plaintiff's opportunity to appeal was not lost as the lodging of an appeal before the Chairperson's order had no effect on the making of the deregistration order. The court held that there was no denial of procedural fairness before the Professional Standards Committee and no other breaches of procedural fairness under the statutory scheme. Consequently, the court dismissed the summons, affirming the Chairperson's order for deregistration and finding no grounds to stay the order or reinstate the plaintiff's registration pending the appeal.