Campbelltown doctor reprimanded for patient relationship

An experienced Campbelltown doctor has been reprimanded and ordered to undergo professional mentoring after admitting to having a sexual relationship with one of his patients.

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An experienced Campbelltown doctor has been reprimanded and ordered to undergo professional mentoring after admitting to having a sexual relationship with one of his patients.

Dr Kenneth McCroary, a general practitioner at Macarthur General Practice since 1997, told the Health Care Complaints Commission that he had a consensual sexual relationship with a female patient between April 2014 and September 2016.

Dr McCroary had begun treating her in June 2013 and they had developed a personal relationship by the end of the year.

The general practitioner consulted with the patient, who can’t be identified for legal reasons, about 100 times across the two and a half year period. He also prescribed medication to her.

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The experienced doctor told the tribunal the patient wasn’t vulnerable and had discussed boundaries with one another, such as only discussing health issues during consultations.

The tribunal heard Dr McCroary, who lectures at the University of NSW and is the deputy chair of Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ Standards Liaison Committee, regretted the situation and misunderstood the code of conduct.

The tribunal found the relationship was a clear breach of sexual boundaries between doctor and patient and that Dr McCroary’s judgment was “clouded”.

General practitioner Dr Kertesz, who provided an independent expert report, described the relationship as “significantly inappropriate”.

Dr McCroary was found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct, reprimanded, ordered to pay the Health Care Complaints Commission’s legal costs and undergo mentoring for at least a year.