Dilshan Ariyarathna: John Hunter Hospital registrar faces tribunal

A medical registrar has said his immaturity and lack of experience with women was behind him using a hospital’s email account to send bogus messages to a co-worker.

A medical registrar who used a hospital’s email account to send bogus messages to a woman he was romantically pursuing will have strict restrictions on his medical registration after a probe by the state’s healthcare watchdog.

The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal handed down a disciplinary decision on Friday after the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) investigated a complaint lodged against Dilshan Ariyarathna.

Mr Ariyarathna was working as an advanced trainee registrar at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle from November 2018 to mid January 2019 when he forwarded a large volume of messages including emails and WhatsApp messages using bogus names.

Mr Ariyarathna worked at Hunter Hospital.

The tribunal heard some of the fake email accounts were used to send messages to a female practitioner he was romantically pursuing after the woman told him she did not want an intimate relationship with him and told him not to contact her.

He also sent messages to the woman’s mother in an attempt to find out whether she had a current partner by posing as a work colleague called “Alice”.

In the bogus texts, he told the woman’s mother he was arranging a “secret surprise dinner” for her and asked “is she seeing someone at the moment? I would like to formally invite him as well.”

Mr Ariyarathna joined Plenty of Fish.

The deception was discovered when the mother mentioned “Alice” to her daughter, who was left puzzled as she did not know anyone of that name.

The tribunal heard Mr Ariyarathna also used hospital email accounts to join dating sites including Plenty of Fish where he received 53 initiations to meet people, along with OkCupid and Bumble.

Mr Ariyarathna had his medical registration suspended by the NSW Medical Council in April 2019 and the HCCC, in its application to the tribunal, recommended conditions be placed on his registration for future practice.

The decision was handed down in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Friday.

Evidence from psychiatrists who assessed Mr Ariyarathna said he had become “infatuated” with the woman and explained the conduct was a result of experiencing social isolation, combined with immaturity and a lack of experience in the development of romantic relationships.

Mr Ariyarathna did not object to any of the conditions suggested by the HCCC.

In its decision, the tribunal said Mr Ariyarathna engaged in conduct of a harassing or stalking nature and the actions constituted professional misconduct.

It also noted Mr Ariyarathna had expressed genuine remorse and did not involve any harm to any patients.

The tribunal lifted the 2019 suspension and imposed a list of conditions including periods of supervision, undergoing training in responsible communication including use of email and social media, and a requirement that he not undertake solo medical practice,

He will also have to seek Medical Council approval before changing the nature or place of work and nominate an experienced medical physician to act as his professional mentor.