North shore doctor banned from practice after sex relationships with female patients
A well respected Sydney doctor had sexual relations with two different women over a number of years, including in his consultation room. But the Lothario was stopped in his tracks after confiding in a church minister.
North Shore
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A doctor on Sydney’s north shore has been suspended from practice after engaging in sexual relationships with female patients over the course of more than a decade.
Dr Lachlan Soper was handed the ban by the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) after an investigation found had he sex with a patient “multiple times” at his practices in St Ives and Muswellbrook between 2009 and 2017, and engaged in another sexual relationship with a patient from 2004 to 2007.
Dr Soper began working at the Brook St Medical Centre in Muswellbrook in 2004 – along with stints at practices in North Sydney and Dee Why – before opening his own medical practice in St Ives in 2011 as a sole practitioner.
The HCCC found one of the relationships, spanning 2009 to 2017, involved Dr Soper kissing the patient in a consultation room and “rubbing himself” against her “until he ejaculated” and saying words to the effect of: “thank you that was really lovely”.
Dr Soper provided medical treatment to the patient as the relationship continued, having sexual intercourse with her on a “number of occasions” at his home and in consultation rooms in St Ives and Muswellbrook.
The HCCC found he also had an “inappropriate personal and sexual relationship” with a second patient between 2004 and 2007 and failed to refer the woman to another GP.
Dr Soper continued to have a “close personal relationship” with the woman after 2007 and went on to provide her with medical care until 2016.
The probe also found Dr Soper prescribed a family member with antidepressant medications Avanza and Sertraline without seeking an independent opinion from another GP.
An investigation was launched after Dr Soper admitted the affairs to his minister at the St Ives Christ Church Anglican Church, Rev James Macbeth, along with his psychologist who filed a mandatory report to authorities in June 2017.
The HCCC heard Dr Soper sent Mr Macbeth a letter threatening him with legal action after he urged him to self-report.
The letter – sent after Mr Macbeth informed him he would report the matter to authorities – claimed “any such action would be defamatory and harm (his) earning capacity and reputation”.
When questioned by HCCC why the relationship of 2009 to 2017 had “taken so long to end”, Dr Soper said he was “addicted to her” but was “saying the Lord’s Prayer to get out of it”.
Evidence by Dr Soper’s psychologist to the HCCC stated he was “apparently hesitant to end the relationship because (the patient) had told him that she had relatives with connections to bikie gangs who could ‘touch up’ people.”
In his statement to the HCCC, Dr Soper admitted the details of the complaints and stated he “understood that a doctor ought not to have intimate or sexual relations with patients”
Dr Soper said he had taken various steps to acknowledge his mistakes, including undertaking education courses in ethics and professional boundaries.
He said the breakdown of his marriage, the loss of friendships, ejection from his church and damage to his career had been “traumatic”.
“He had reflected on these matters and was disappointed with himself and now sought to redeem himself and move forward,” the HCCC found.
Reports from independent medical practitioners provided to the HCCC stated the breaching of sexual boundaries exploits the doctor-patient relationship, undermines the trust the community have in their doctors and may cause “profound psychological harm to patients and compromise their medical care”.
“He should have taken all reasonable steps to transfer her care to another practitioner,” the statement read.
The HCCC in its ruling said it was “satisfied” Dr Soper’s actions amounted to professional misconduct.
“His conduct demonstrated an attitude of indifference and represents an abuse of the privileges that accompany registration as a medical practitioner,” the tribunal said.
“Dr Soper, quite deliberately, had ignored the ethical rules of his profession and did so over a lengthy period. The ethical rules concerning boundaries provide fundamental protections for patients but were flouted, often in a public way, in order to meet his sexual needs.”
Dr Soper was suspended from medical practice for a period of six months and ordered to pay legal costs for the HCCC proceedings.
He will also be subject to eight conditions on the resumption of medical practice, including a ban from working as a sole practitioner.
The North Shore Times contacted Dr Soper for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.