Dr Ali Al Moosawi had sex with ‘particularly vulnerable’ patient, tribunal finds
The identity of a married Queensland doctor and father of four who secretly had sex with a “particularly vulnerable” female patient then lied to cover it up, can finally be revealed after he was found to have committed serious professional misconduct and slammed by a judge.
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The identity of a Queensland doctor who secretly had sex with a “particularly vulnerable” female patient then lied to cover it up, claiming she had framed him and it wasn’t possible because he was impotent, can finally be revealed after he was found to have engaged in serious professional misconduct and slammed by a judge.
Ali Al Moosawi, a married father of four who worked as a locum general practitioner in an unspecified Queensland regional town between August 2013 and October 2014, has been found by a tribunal to have had sex with the young woman in his accommodation unit at the rear of his medical practice on October 29, 2014 and lied about it to save his skin.
Dr Al Moosawi’s behaviour was found to have violated the doctor-patient boundary in an “egregious” way after evidence was examined by Judge John Allen QC, the deputy president of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) during a disciplinary hearing brought by the state’s health ombudsman.
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Dr Al Moosawi, who is based in the Victorian town of Kilmore, north of Melbourne, failed in his bid to keep his identity a secret after the ruling was handed down, arguing that his wife and kids would be embarrassed and ridiculed about his claimed erectile dysfunction and his claim that they had been unable to have sex.
His name had been suppressed during the hearing of the case in September but it was lifted by the judge on October 23 on the grounds that his erectile dysfunction was relied on as an answer to the allegations of sex with his patient.
Judge Allen noted in his 40-age decision that evidence led him to make the “damning” finding that Dr Al Moosawi had in fact phoned the woman on her mobile and sent her several text messages to set up their sexual encounter at about 930pm on October 29, using the phone number she provided as a patient.
Dr Al Moosawi earlier swore in his affidavit that he did not call, text or otherwise
contact the woman or have sex that evening or on any other occasion, he also argued he did not leave his unit that evening.
Judge Allen said he preferred the evidence of the female patient, who said that Dr Moosawi texted her to arrange to pick her up at a phone box near a petrol station just hours after he kissed her, rubbed her underwear and put her hand on his crotch when she consulted him at his practice for medical advice.
She said that Dr Al Moosawi told her that he “could get into a lot of trouble for” kissing and rubbing her but he trusted her not to say anything.
“Dr Ali started kissing me on my lips and it got pretty steamy,” she said in her evidence.
When she got in Dr Al Moosawi’s car at around 9.30pm he told her to lay the seat down so no one could see her, then once they arrived at the medical practice he told her to jump out and run into the unit so that no one would see her.
The woman testified that Dr Al Moosawi wore blue medical gloves during three sex acts, telling her it was “so that there would be no trace whatsoever of” her bodily fluids on him, and that he told her he was miserable in his marriage and his wife banned him from speaking to other women.
“Dr Ali told me I was nothing like his wife,” the woman testified.
The patient later told a friend that she felt “repulsed, dirty and used” by the sex, and weeks later she reported Dr Al Moosawi’s behaviour saying she “felt used” by him.
Dr Al Moosawi unsuccessfully argued at the QCAT hearing that he was unable to have sex with his wife throughout 2014 due to erectile dysfunction and he called extensive medical evidence in a bid to prove he was impotent and incapable of sex.
He also unsuccessfully argued the woman must have stolen his mobile phone during her consultation with him and then used his mobile to concoct false evidence against him, claiming that he later found his missing phone on the bonnet of his car.
The evidence against Dr Al Moosawi included mobile phone calls between Dr Al Moosawi and the woman in December 2014 which were recorded by the woman.
Judge Allen found Dr Al Moosawi “made admissions” of sex with the patient in those recorded calls.
“I will be in prison for 15 years and you know, I lose my job,” Dr Al Moosawi told her in the calls made after she had reported him to medical authorities.
Dr Al Moosawi was also found to have interfered with the woman as a witness during the investigation after he was slapped with disciplinary action by the medical watchdog, by trying to escape sanction for misconduct by encouraging her to lie and deny they had sex and withdraw her complaint.
The name of the patient and the name of the rural Queensland town were suppressed by QCAT.
The case is set to return to QCAT on a date yet to be fixed.