St George Hospital doctor Harsh Priyadarshi banned from practising for 2 years

A doctor who indecently assaulted three semi-clothed female patients has failed to take responsibility for his actions, leading to a two-year ban on the aspiring spine specialist.

Dr Harsh Priyadarshi once aspired to become an orthopaedic and spine specialist in Australia but he squandered that dream when he was convicted of aggravated indecent assault on three female patients.

The 53-year-old, who now works full time in a non-patient research role, denied the assaults when he left his victims vulnerable and semi-clothed in 2011 and 2017, but was found guilty at Parramatta Local Court in 2018.

Complaints were made to police and the Health Care Complaints Commission after “various incidents” on two of the patients in June 2011 when Dr Priyadarshi worked at St George Hospital as an orthopaedic clinical research fellow in spinal services.

During a performance review in November 2011, the married father of one told the panel he changed his examination technique “to decrease any opportunity for body contact” with patients and no further action was taken.

St George Hospital at Kogarah where Dr Harsh Priyadarshi spent part of his career. Picture: Daily Telegraph

When he returned to Australia from India in early 2016, Dr Priyadarshi worked at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Macquarie Neurosurgery and lectured at the University of NSW and the St George Clinical School.

The third complaint occurred in December 2017 and he was charged with one count each of aggravated indecent assault on the three women.

The NSW Medical Council suspended his registration.

He was sentenced to 2 ½ years in Silverwater jail with a non-parole period of 15 months but was released 18 days later while an appeal was undertaken.

He lost the appeal against the conviction at Parramatta District Court in July 2019 but re-sentenced to a three-year community corrections order, allowing him to serve his sentence in the community.

The Health Care Complaints Commission brought a complaint to the Civil and Administrative Tribunal so it could determine a non-review period for Dr Priyadarshi, who is still serving his sentence in the community.

In July, the tribunal cancelled Dr Priyadarshi’s registration for two years after it found the doctor still failed to show remorse and provided unconvincing evidence.

“The tribunal found that the practitioner’s conduct caused harm to his patients and that he is unfit to practise medicine,’’ it said in a statement.

The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. Picture: Jordan Shields

It heard how India-born Dr Priyadarshi offended the third time while he was undertaking risk management training for his first two offences and all assaults occurred with a supervisor nearby.

The tribunal heard Dr Priyadarshi continued to maintain his innocence and instead blamed his poor communication skills leading to a “situation where the patients believed they had been assaulted’’.

“Whilst I respect and accept the decision of the court, I maintain that at no time did I intentionally assault any of the complainants,’’ he said.

“With the benefit of hindsight, I have been able to deeply reflect upon the evidence of the three patients. That evidence has haunted me since I heard it in court. I am embarrassed and mortified to think that I caused the distress that I clearly caused to those women.

“Whilst I have never intentionally assaulted any patient, I accept that my keenness to conduct a thorough examination and to elicit a diagnosis has caused the three patients in question to believe that they were assaulted.’’

The tribunal agreed with the court that the doctor “exploited patients who were vulnerable, semi-clothed and alone, causing them harm, and he has so demonstrated that he is unfit in the public interest to practise medicine”.

Dr Priyadarshi’s lawyer said the offences were low scale, his client was of good character who tried to improve his consent processes and that he was consulting a Westmead psychologist.

But the tribunal criticised Dr Priyadarshi’s failure to accept responsibility and insight into the offences.

“We are satisfied that the respondent is generally a person of good character, but his offending behaviour was serious, and his stubborn defence of it does not serve him well,’’ it stated.

“The complainants were stoic, and their evidence is impressive, but the respondent sought to deflect important questions put to him, and his evidence was unconvincing.”

Dr Priyadarshi qualified as a doctor in India in 1991 and worked in Mauritius, France, the UK and the US as a researcher, surgeon, researcher and consultant with a focus on the human spine and in 2008 he worked at the Royal Adelaide Hospital as well as orthopaedic research at St George Hospital before returning to India in 2008.

In September 2010, he obtained limited registration for postgraduate training in Sydney under supervision.

Since August 2020, he has worked full-time in a non-patient contact role as part of a research fellowship at the Australian Institute of Musculo-Skeletal Research.

He obtained a master’s degree in orthopaedics 23 years ago but the tribunal heard his ambition was to obtain Australian specialist orthopaedic qualifications, and practise as a specialist orthopaedic and spine surgeon in Australia but he is now studying for a career in research.

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