Dr Bassel Abdul Rahman: registration cancelled over drug prescriptions

A Sydney GP who inappropriately prescribed dozens of patients with ‘extraordinary’ amounts of addictive drugs and steroids has described his own conduct as “reckless”.

A Sydney GP who prescribed highly addictive drugs to himself and others including 540 Endone tablets in seven weeks for a single patient has had his registration cancelled.

Dr Bassel Abdul Rahman has been sanctioned by the Health Care Complaints Commission after a tribunal found he inappropriately prescribed testosterone, steroids, benzodiazepines and addictive drugs to 27 patients at Miranda Medical Centre between 2011 and 2015.

Five of those patients had a history of drug dependence or abuse.

“For example, the respondent wrote prescriptions for Patient S between February 16 2015 and April 17 2015 for 540 Endone tablets,” the HCCC judgment stated.

“There is no clinically legitimate reason for such an extraordinary quantity to be issued to a patient.”

Patient S ultimately obtained prescriptions amounting to 6000 Endone tablets between April 2012 and July 2015 from Dr Rahman.

Dr Rahman also prescribed the same patient pain medication Lyrica, opioid Tramal, anabolic steroid Primoteston, reflux medication Nexium and antidepressant Avanza over 16 appointments in the same period.

Doctor Bassel Abdul Rahman. Picture: Seven News

In another case, Dr Rahman gave one patient five Xanax prescriptions amounting to 200 tablets in only 14 days.

“Overprescribing is also apparent in relation to the other patients referred to by the expert,” the HCCC judgment stated.

The tribunal also found Dr Rahman inappropriately prescribed Schedule 4 and Schedule 8 addictive drugs to two close relatives and himself in the same period.

Between November 19 2013 and July 9 2015, Dr Rahman self-prescribed Valium, opioid Oxycodone and appetite suppressant phentermine.

In addition, Dr Rahman failed to keep proper patient records and in one instance failed to report the theft of 45 Somatropin human growth hormone vials from his car to the NSW Ministry of Health, despite informing police.

One patient paid Dr Rahman more than $49,000 for 32 vials of synthetic human growth hormone in efforts to lose weight, from which Dr Rahman made a small financial profit.

Dr Rahman prescribed a variety of drugs inappropriately to patients.

Overall, Dr Rahman inappropriately prescribed drugs of addiction including alprazolam, buprenorphine, fentanyl, oxycodone, methadone, hydromorphone, dexamphetamine, morphine and pethidine to 17 patients “without exercising responsible medical judgment”.

“(These were circumstances where) he knew or should have known the medications were being abused,” the judgment stated.

“The practitioner had previously been contacted by officers of the Pharmaceutical Services Branch and the NSW Medical Council in connection with his legal and professional responsibilities with respect to prescribing drugs of addiction in 2009 and 2013.”

Dr Rahman also inappropriately prescribed nine patients testosterone and anabolic steroids and failed to thoroughly examine eight of them before prescribing the testosterone.

He also prescribed 13 patients benzodiazepines such as Valium, normally designed to treat anxiety and sleeping issues, “without exercising responsible medical judgment”.

The same patients were simultaneously provided with Schedule 8 addictive drugs, “increasing the risk of significant side effects including excessive sedation, respiratory depression and overdose”.

More than a dozen patients were prescribed both benzodiazepines and drugs of addiction, increasing the risk of dangerous side effects.

“(Dr Rahman prescribed these drugs) for excessive periods without a documented management plan, and in circumstances where he knew or should have known the medications were being abused,” the judgment stated.

The HCCC judgment stated Dr Rahman accepts his prescriptions were “inappropriate in many instances” and “excessive”, particularly in relation to anabolic steroids and addictive drugs.

He admitted to all three complaints levelled by the HCCC, including that he engaged in

sufficiently serious unsatisfactory professional conduct to justify his registration’s cancellation.

At the time, Dr Rahman stated he was suffering an auto-immune condition manifesting as extreme abdominal and joint pain as well as post-traumatic stress arising from a 2014 incident where a patient wielding an axe attacked him.

“Dr Rahman states that he considers these two conditions significantly impaired his capacity with difficult patients who attended seeking medications and that he felt overwhelmed,” the judgment stated.

“The respondent accepts that his knowledge surrounding the medications in question was lacking and he did not appreciate all the serious consequences his prescribing might have.”

Dr Rahman also told the tribunal patients would walk into his practice room and demand particular medications.

On May 18 the tribunal found all allegations of Dr Rahman’s misconduct proven and cancelled his registration as a medical practitioner.

That decision cannot be reviewed for at least 12 months.