Qld doctors and nurses banned or restricted by AHPRA
They’re meant to be our most trusted members of society – but even health practitioners make bad decisions.
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
They’re meant to be our most trusted members of society – but even health practitioners make bad decisions.
From doctors to nurses to dentists, here is the full list of medicos who had their practicing rights cancelled or restricted since 2023 according to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).
See the full list below >>>
Dr Peter George Bevan
Medical Practitioner – Mt Lofty
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 25/05/2023
Dr Peter George Bevan was, according to AHPRA, mainly practising out of a location in Mt Lofty when his registration was cancelled/prohibited in May 2023.
There were no reasons listed for the cancellation.
Mr Mark David Chalmers
Nurse – Cairns
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 02/02/2023
The long-serving Cairns hospital nurse and voluntary firefighter who was “significantly” involved in the community in August 2021 was sentenced to jail for the indecent treatment of a young girl.
Mark David Chalmers, 62, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in the Cairns District Court on three counts of indecent treatment of a child under the age of 12.
Crown prosecutor Gelma Meoli told the court Chalmers had no criminal history and the complainant was aged between eight and nine years at the time of his offending.
Ms Meoli said on one occasion, Chalmers when babysitting the girl and her siblings, asked the girl to go to the spare bedroom with him, where he closed the door and told her to put her hand inside his shorts while he molested her through her clothes.
Ms Meoli told the court that on a second occasion, Chalmers’ offending was essentially the same except that he did not molest the girl.
On the third occasion in January 2020, the court heard how minutes after Chalmers began abusing the girl, the girl’s stepfather walked into the room.
Defence barrister Joseph Jacobs told the court his client was a nurse of 27 years at the Cairns Hospital who had been suspended from his employment after being charged.
Mr Jacobs said Chalmers made an early plea of guilty and had been involved “quite significantly in the community, offering his services voluntarily”.
Judge Anthony Rafter SC sentenced Chalmers to two years imprisonment, suspended after serving eight months, with an operational period of three years, and placed him on three years probation.
AHPRA cancelled his registration in February 2023.
Ms Lee-Ann Olga Chambers
Nurse – Woodridge
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 23/11/2023
Lee-Ann Olga Chambers was, according to AHPRA, mainly practising out of a location in Woodridge when her registration was cancelled/prohibited in November 2023.
There were no reasons listed for the cancellation.
Mr Paul Stephen Dunne
Psychologist – Currimundi
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 10/07/2023
A tribunal found Mr Paul Stephen Dunne “engaged in professional misconduct”, disqualifying him from applying for registration for 24 months from July 2023.
Dr Steven John England
Dental Practitioner – Port Douglas
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 06/09/2023
Steven John England was, according to AHPRA, mainly practising out of a location in Port Douglas when his registration was cancelled/prohibited in September 2023.
There were no reasons listed for the cancellation.
Mr Ronald Peter Fogarty
Nurse – Eudlo
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 29/08/2023
The Sunshine Coast nurse was in December 2022 sentenced to 18 months’ jail after police discovered he had accessed at least 540 sick child abuse images with victims as young as two years old.
Ronald Peter Fogarty, 65, was sentenced by District Court Judge Paul Smith to a head sentence of 18 months, but to be released after he serves three months.
He must be of good behaviour for three years or risk being returned to prison.
The court heard Fogarty worked for Sunshine Coast University Hospital but resigned before he was charged by police with a charge of using a carriage service to access child abuse material.
In sentencing the father of 10 children, Judge Smith noted that police estimated he had accessed 541 child sex image files on his phone between August 13 and 21, 2022, including some of children aged from two to 12 being raped by older men.
Defence barrister Mark McCarthy tendered a psychiatric report on Fogarty in court which stated he had autism spectrum disorder and was never a physical risk to children, and was not a pedophile.
For the first year of his probation, Fogarty was to be supervised by a probation officer and could not travel interstate or overseas without permission, the court heard.
AHPRA shows his registration was cancelled in September 2023.
Mr Trevor Peter Hatten
Psychologist – Parrearra
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 21/04/2023
The Queensland psychologist in September 2023 was slapped with a six month ban from the profession over a series of sexually explicit conversations with a vulnerable female client who had sought his help after a relationship breakdown.
Trevor Peter Hatten contacted the woman several times in January 2021, urging her to masturbate, suggesting a lubricant, asking how she liked to be pleasured, offering to connect her with a dominatrix, and encouraging her to watch pornography.
The woman initially believed Hatten’s messages and calls were part of her therapy but became uncomfortable as the exchanges became increasingly explicit.
The Health Ombudsman took action against Hatten after receiving a complaint about his conduct.
The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal found Hatten’s behaviour amounted to professional misconduct, formally reprimanded him and ordered he be disqualified from applying for registration as a health practitioner for six months.
The tribunal said Hatten, a married man who had been a member of the profession for more than 40 years and operated from a practice south of Brisbane, had indicated he had no intention to work in the field again.
Hatten’s disqualification ran for six months from April 20, 2023.
Dr Myles Edward Holt
Dental Practitioner – Broadbeach Waters
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 11/10/2023
A jetsetting former dentist was banned from practising in Australia for five years and hit with legal costs after he was found to have misled a court.
Myles Edward Holt in 2014 sued his former employer in Darwin in a dispute dating back to 2011 in which he claimed he could no longer work on Saturdays for personal reasons.
It was revealed he was instead flying to Singapore to work as a dentist there.
The Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal in 2022 found Holt engaged in professional misconduct by giving dishonest evidence during proceedings in a local court.
In March 2022 the NT Supreme Court dismissed an appeal and upheld the finding.
The tribunal ordered Holt to pay $100,000 in legal costs and he was also disqualified from applying for registration in Australia for five years and banned from working in certain health services.
AHPRA shows his registration was cancelled in October 2023, with his latest location listed as Broadbeach Waters.
Dr Dheyaa Kadhim Jouda
Medical Practitioner – Kangaroo Point
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 23/06/2023
The man who worked as a doctor at the Grafton GP Super Clinic was in June 2022 found guilty of professional misconduct after a string of disturbing allegations made by a patient suffering schizophrenia.
It was alleged that between February 9, 2017, and June 7, 2019, while working at the Grafton clinic, Dheyaa Kadhim Jouda breached professional boundaries with ‘Patient A’.
The allegations included that the general practitioner exchanged phone calls and text messages with the patient, invited the patient to his home for dinner, drank alcohol and smoked marijuana with the patient at the patient’s home and loaned the patient money.
The case was brought by the Health Care Complaints Commission and heard by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
It was further claimed that Dr Jouda – educated at the University of Baghdad, Iraq – engaged in improper or unethical conduct by:
■ asking the patient if he could use his name to complete a prescription not meant for him;
■ falsely documenting a prescription;
■ falsely documenting a medical consultation with the patient; and,
■ making a false representation to the commission during the investigation of the matter.
The Civil and Administrative Tribunal found the complaint proven and that Dr Jouda was guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct.
Dr Ian Charles Housego
Medical Practitioner – Gracemere
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 01/02/2024
A well-regarded former Army medic, surgeon and Queensland GP not only grew 675 illegal marijuana plants on his rural property, but also did not regret doing so, it was revealed in July 2023.
Following his sentence in Rockhampton District Court, Dr Ian Charles Housego painted himself as a pioneer in pain management, who carried out his farming in “in full knowledge” of its criminality but believing it would soon be legalised.
The then 48-year-old received a suspended jail sentence for producing the drug (the plants weighed in at 83 kilograms) at his Struck Oil property between April 1, 2021, and February 7, 2022.
Defence barrister Andrew Hoare said his client had started the production knowing it was illegal, so that he could practice a new skill set in a field in which he intended to work once it was legalised.
The doctor’s medical license was suspended in 2019 – the same year he was first convicted in Rockhampton Magistrates Court for producing 18 plants marijuana and 80 seedlings.
Judge Michael Rackemann said documents before him stated Dr Housego made attempts to legalise his marijuana production.
Dr Housego pleaded guilty to one count of producing a dangerous drug, three counts of possessing anything used in a crime and two of possessing illicit drugs.
AHPRA shows his registration was cancelled in February 2024.
Dr Mohan Kumar Kanajenahalli Nagraj
Medical Practitioner – Annandale
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 06/09/2023
The medical practitioner’s inappropriate behaviour towards several colleagues was found by a tribunal to constitute professional misconduct.
As such he was reprimanded, disqualified from applying for registration for nine months and ordered to pay the Board’s costs of $5000.
Dr Mohan Kumar Kanajenahalli Nagraj was granted limited registration as a medical practitioner in August 2014 and practised at various Western Australian hospitals between September 2014 to September 2019.
In April 2018, Dr Nagraj’s employment was terminated following a complaint about his inappropriate behaviour towards a colleague.
Dr Nagraj was found to have:
■ embraced a colleague from behind and put his hands on her pregnant stomach
■ touched a colleague’s breasts without her consent, and
■ repeatedly engaged in inappropriate behaviour towards a medical resident including requiring the colleague to continue working while allowing other junior colleagues to go home, grabbing the colleague’s arm, communicating inappropriately and making comments about the colleague’s body.
Miss Melissa Jayne Kilby
Nurse – Redland Bay
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 12/10/2023
Melissa Jayne Kilby was, according to AHPRA, mainly practising out of a location in Redland Bay when her registration was cancelled/prohibited in October 2023.
There were no reasons listed for the cancellation.
Dr Simon Ling
Medical Practitioner – Main Beach
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 26/07/2023
Simon Ling was, according to AHPRA, mainly practising out of a location in Main Beach when his registration was cancelled/prohibited in July 2023.
There were no reasons listed for the cancellation.
Mr Jason Luke McCabe
Paramedicine – Seventeen Mile Rocks
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 21/12/2023
Jason Luke McCabe was, according to AHPRA, mainly practising out of a location in Seventeen Mile Rocks when his registration was cancelled/prohibited in December 2023.
There were no reasons listed for the cancellation.
Mr Curtis Shea Mickan
Pharmacist – Murgon
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 04/12/2023
A Brisbane pharmacist who campaigned against domestic violence as the president of his local community group returned home hours after being arrested for choking his pregnant wife and set fire to their house with the injured woman and her mother still inside.
His victim told a court in February 2023 of the terror she felt while being choked, and how she thought she would die, saying she fears for her life when her husband Curtis Shea Mickan is inevitably released from prison.
Mickan, 36 at the time, came home drunk after a football match in May 2021 and began attacking his wife, whom he threw furniture at, shook by her hair, verbally abused, bit and choked in a protracted and violent ordeal.
She called the police and Mickan was taken to the watch house but later released without charge.
Hours later he went back to their Wooloowin property to find his wife who was being supported by her mother after her injuries were treated at the emergency department of the hospital where she worked.
Mickan pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court to seven charges including arson, assault occasioning bodily harm, choking, common assault and wilful damage.
Both the prosecution and defence submitted a head sentence of seven years was appropriate given the circumstances of the offending and the comparable cases.
Judge Devereaux sentenced Mickan to seven years’ imprisonment with parole after serving one third of that, or two years and four months behind bars.
Dr Mark Anthony O’Donoghue
Medical Practitioner – Chuwar
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 27/02/2024
Mark Anthony O’Donoghue was, according to AHPRA, mainly practising out of a location in Chuwar when his registration was cancelled/prohibited in February 2024.
There were no reasons listed for the cancellation.
Mr Dennis Paterno Orola
Nurse – McDowell
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 15/12/2023
A Brisbane sonographer who used his position of power to sexually abuse his vulnerable patients was in February 2023 sentenced to four years’ imprisonment.
Dennis Paterno Orola, 59, pretended he was performing valid clinical procedures when he raped and assaulted three women for his own sexual gratification between 2018 and 2020.
Orola pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault and one of rape arising from the incidents committed against women receiving ultrasounds at the Princess Alexandra Hospital.
“It was in each case a gross breach of trust,” Judge Tony Moynihan KC said.
“It was a persistent and consistent course of conduct and the victims were vulnerable in the circumstances.”
Defence barrister Ruth O’Gorman KC said Orola had resigned his position and surrendered his nursing registration.
The court heard Orola, a father-of-two, had immigrated to Australia from the Philippines in 1990 and had dedicated his life to work and family.
Orola was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment to be suspended after he has served 16 months in jail.
Dr David Alvin Orth
Medical Practitioner – Highgate Hill
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 04/09/2023
David Alvin Orth was, according to AHPRA, mainly practising out of a location in Highgate Hill when his registration was cancelled/prohibited in September 2023.
There were no reasons listed for the cancellation.
Mr Gem Cicek
Pharmacist – Mermaid Waters
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 18/09/2023
Gem Cicek was, according to AHPRA, mainly practising out of a location in Mermaid Waters when his registration was cancelled/prohibited in September 2023.
There were no reasons listed for the cancellation.
Ms Linda Ann Peller
Midwife – Annandale
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 15/12/2023
A Townsville midwife in December 2023 was struck off and can’t apply for new registration for a year after she was found guilty of misconduct for “almost entirely” failing “to fulfil her duties as a midwife” by going on holiday during a birth.
In a decision handed down by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Linda Ann Peller’s midwifery registration was cancelled and she was banned from providing any pregnancy-related health service or birth-related health service until she is allowed back into the profession.
Judge John Allen concluded that Ms Peller’s failure to give intrapartum care “demonstrates a blatant ignorance … for the fundamental responsibilities of a midwife”.
Ms Peller admitted all seven complaints made against her by the healthcare watchdog, the state’s health ombudsman.
Mr Julian Lielong Teo
Nurse – Holmview
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 15/09/2023
Julian Lielong Teo was, according to AHPRA, mainly practising out of a location in Holmview when his registration was cancelled/prohibited in September 2023.
There were no reasons listed for the cancellation.
Ms Elizabeth Ann Thompson
Medical Practitioner/Nurse – Greenslopes
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 13/12/2023
Elizabeth Ann Thompson was, according to AHPRA, mainly practising out of a location in Greenslopes when her registration was cancelled/prohibited in December 2023.
There were no reasons listed for the cancellation.
Dr Martin Drew Timchur
Chiropractor – Buderim
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 26/09/2023
A high-flying Maserati-driving former chiropractor turned medical mogul and international conference speaker, in July 2022 walked free from court on a suspended jail sentence after he admitted sexually assaulting a female patient during an after-hours appointment.
Martin Drew Timchur, then 45, a married father-of-three from Buderim on the Sunshine Coast, who is a former director of the Queensland branch of the Chiropractic Association of Australia, was in the Magistrates Court in Brisbane where he pleaded guilty sexually assaulting the woman at a Jindalee medical practice on June 29, 2021.
Timchur checked what time the practice receptionist was going home for the day, and how to lock up the business before the assault, the court heard.
“At that stage, there must have, or there should have been a realisation that this is madness,” Magistrate Peter Saggers said in sentencing him to a nine-month prison term, suspended for 18 months.
Legal officer Pip Harvey Ross, for the Crown, submitted that Timchur should serve actual time in prison and the sentence should not be suspended.
Mr Saggers said that Timchur had initially denied the woman’s claim of assault and sought to deflect blame “due to embarrassment” but later conceded he had molested his patient.
Mr Saggers also ordered that Timchur pay his victim $10,000 in compensation within one month.
Timchur is no longer listed as a registered chiropractor on the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency website.
Ms Aristea Maria Valassis
Nurse – Wishart
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 19/12/2023
Aristea Maria Valassis was, according to AHPRA, mainly practising out of a location in Wishart when her registration was cancelled/prohibited in December 2023.
There were no reasons listed for the cancellation.
Dr Shafiq Ghulam Yasin
Medical Practitioner – Capalaba
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 18/05/2023
The Brisbane psychiatrist was in July 2023 banned for life after preying on “troubled and vulnerable” female patients allegedly groping one’s breasts, groaning while massaging another and thrusting his pelvis into an employee.
Shafiq Ghulam Yasin, then 54, was working as a psychiatrist after already being dealt with for professional violations after engaging in a consensual sexual relationship with a woman he treated for bipolar disorder in 2008.
After serving out a one-year suspension fresh complaints were made to the Health Ombudsman relating to four patients.
One of them, a woman in her early 20s with ADHD, saw Yasin 12 times in 2017 and 2018.
A tribunal heard that during the consultations he questioned her sexual history, including the number of sexual partners she’d had, why she had not had sex, and whether she would have sex in the future.
Yasin also allegedly touched her breasts inside her bra with his fingers, the tribunal heard.
After investigating the allegations the ombudsman referred Yasin to Queensland’s Civil and Administrative Tribunal for sanction.
Yasin, who did not renew his health practitioner‘s registration in September 2019, declined to participate with the ombudsman’s investigation or the tribunal.
The tribunal found Yasin had engaged in professional misconduct in respect of all four female patients.
Yasin was disqualified from applying for registration indefinitely.
Mr Travis James Dawson
Nurse – Strathpine
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 07/09/2023
Travis James Dawson was, according to AHPRA, mainly practising out of a location in Strathpine when his registration was cancelled/prohibited in September 2023.
There were no reasons listed for the cancellation.
Miss Liangliang Du
Nurse – Parkinson
Registration status: Cancelled and/or prohibited on 20/12/2023
Liangliang Du was, according to AHPRA, mainly practising out of a location in Parkinson when her registration was cancelled/prohibited in December 2023.
There were no reasons listed for the cancellation.
Source: Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
Originally published as Qld doctors and nurses banned or restricted by AHPRA
Motorcyclist killed in single-vehicle crash southwest of Brisbane
A 20-year-old motorcyclist has died in a single-vehicle crash in the Scenic Rim southwest of Brisbane.
Fallen miner killed in workplace tragedy named
Loved ones of a miner killed in a work incident in Central Queensland are reeling in the wake of the tragedy, the latest in a series of incidents plaguing Queensland mines in 2024.