Dr Keith Brennan to go back to work as a GP after being found guilty of professional misconduct
“I’m very fertile, I have big balls”. A Hunter, Central Coast doctor who had his GP registration cancelled after being found guilty of professional conduct with a female patient, has had it reinstated so he can go back to work.
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A Hunter and Central Coast doctor, who had his registration cancelled after being found guilty of professional misconduct with a female patient, has been given the green light to return to work as a general practitioner.
In May 2017, Dr Keith Ian Brennan - a former Australian Defence Force medical officer, police officer - was found guilty of breaching the professional boundaries by pursuing an intimate relationship with a patient, and providing false and misleading information to the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC).
The 56-year old worked as a doctor on the Central Coast from 2009 before coming to Newcastle in 2016 to work in a group medical practice.
An investigation found Dr. Brennan, who was married with kids, was inappropriate on a number of occasions between October 2011 and July 2014, telling a female patient she was beautiful and adding her on Facebook so he could private message her.
“Wow you have a big mouth,” he told the patient on one occasion.
In June 2014, he told her he wanted to have a relationship, saying “I like you very much” before offering a “doctor to your door” service.
On another occasion after the patient had suffered a miscarriage he said: “If you want you can have my baby, I’m very fertile, I have big balls”.
He was also found guilty of touching her on the breasts, kissing her and placing her hand on his groin saying “look at what you have done to me”.
In April 2018, Dr. Brennan had his registration as a GP cancelled, before submitting an application in October 2019 to have it “reinstated”.
After a hearing in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, that application was granted on Friday.
It means the 56-year-old will be able apply to the Medical Board of Australia for re-registration.
But the father of six will have a long list of conditions attached to gain back his employment which includes quitting drinking and only working in a group practice of two or more GPs.
He’ll also have to take on a professional mentor, see a psychiatrist and be supervised for a period of two years.
In the hearing Dr. Brennan said he participated in an ethics counsel program and discussed the importance of personal boundaries.
He said he accepted there were a number of major factors and stressors which led to the exercise of poor judgment on his part and acknowledged during the hearing, that he had behaved “very badly” in many areas of his life and had accepted full responsibility.
“I disgraced myself and in doing so, my profession. I abused the trust placed in me as a medical practitioner, and in the profession which I love, which I deeply and sincerely regret,” he said.