Australian Doctor Banned For Sex With Patients Loses Appeal

A 42-year-old Australian doctor who stands banned for inappropriate conduct has lost his appeal in the Victorian Supreme Court against the ban. Dr Richard George Young - a former finalist for the Cleo Bachelor of the Year and a former male stripper - was suspended by the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria after it deemed he was a "risk to the health and safety of the community" if he continued to see patients.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) cancelled the registration of Dr Young and disqualified him from re-applying until next July after he paid a sex worker $50 for oral sex during a consultation at his clinic in March 2004.

At the time, he had given the Medical Practice Board of Victoria an undertaking he would not have sex or personal relationships with current or former patients.

He had previously had sex with the worker at a brothel before she became his patient.

Dr Young also admitted to unprofessional conduct for prescribing a potentially dangerous narcotic painkiller to the woman, who was already on methadone.

He maintained he was unaware another doctor at the clinic was prescribing her methadone, but conceded he should have been more careful.

Dr Young, 39, had also been suspended for 15 months in 2001 after the board found he had abused his position as a doctor by engaging in sexual relationships with two vulnerable female patients.

He was again reprimanded by the board in 2006 after he told a female patient "Holy mackerel, you're small" during a pap smear test she described as more sexual than clinical, but escaped suspension and was instead ordered to undergo counselling.

During his 2001 hearing, Dr Young's lawyer Michael Gordon told the board his client had turned his back on a hard-partying lifestyle which "led him into error".

"He has forsaken the subculture of nightclub life with its...laissez-faire attitudes, overtures of narcissism and instant gratification," Mr Gorton said.

Male stripping group Princes of the Night confirmed Dr Young previously worked as one of its performers, but said he had not performed for several years.

The September VCAT hearing heard that Dr Young now had a partner and owned a restaurant, but wished to work in cosmetic medicine, which would involve seeing women.

Victorian Supreme Court Justice Nemeer Mukhtar on Thursday refused Dr Young's application to appeal the recent VCAT decision, saying the tribunal had not erred in any way.

A psychiatrist had earlier contended that Dr Young had a narcissistic personality but no longer posed a risk to the public.

But Justice Mukhtar agreed with the tribunal that it would be difficult to determine after just nine consultations that Dr Young would not re-offend.

"There were grounds for truly being concerned about the prospects of re-offending," Justice Mukhtar said.

"What prevails is the need for protection of the public and standards of the profession."



Source-Medindia