Adelaide doctor, 59, reprimanded after accessing medical records of love interest’s boyfriend

A tribunal has delivered its judgment against an Adelaide doctor, who was caught looking up the medical records of his female colleague’s boyfriend.

A doctor who had been trying to pursue a relationship with a female colleague has been forced to undertake “confidentiality training” after he was caught accessing the medical records of her partner.

In February, the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal heard a 59-year-old suburban Adelaide doctor had, on four occasions, accessed a man’s medical records from his home computer out of “idle curiosity”.

However, it also heard that the doctor – who The Advertiser has chosen not to name to protect the patient – had been pursuing a relationship with a female colleague working at the same clinic.

Between September 2020 and January 2021, the doctor had “an interest in pursuing a personal and intimate relationship with … a woman employed by the clinic”.

“(The doctor) regarded his relationship with the woman as consensual,” SACAT said.

“In furtherance of that relationship, he entertained the woman at his home, visited her home on at least five occasions, gave her gifts, commented favourably on her appearance, invited her to have coffee with him, telephoned her and sent text messages in which he expressed his affection for her.

“During the time that (the doctor) was pursuing a relationship with the woman, she was in a relationship with another man.”

The doctor accessed the man’s records four times from a home computer.

The Tribunal said that man had been a patient at the clinic for “several years”, but that he had only consulted the doctor on one occasion several months prior to the “impugned conduct”.

The man had seen other doctors at the clinic on three occasions, who had made notes on his file.

On four occasions, between January 8 and January 21, 2021, the doctor logged into the practice management system and accessed the man’s medical records.

While the doctor had conceded he accessed the records for “no legitimate need or purpose”, the Medical Board of Australia argued the doctor was “not motivated by mere idle curiosity”.

“He gained access in the context of his interest in pursuing a relationship with (the woman),” the Tribunal said.

“The Board submitted that his purpose was to obtain information about (the man), being a person who had an ongoing relationship with (the woman).”

Lawyers for the doctor had submitted that he had never been the subject of any prior complaint – both in Australia and overseas – and that his conduct was a “one-off”.

“The impugned conduct was said to be a one-off aberration that arose out of the “unusually pressured” relationship he was pursuing with (the woman),” the Tribunal said.

“After careful consideration … the Tribunal concludes that the purpose for which (the doctor) accessed the clinical records of (the man) was to further the relationship he was seeking with (the woman). The Tribunal does not accept that his conduct was motivated by mere idle curiosity.”

The doctor was ordered to undertake education courses on the topics of confidentiality and the proper and appropriate access to patient records.