Strathfield GP Dr Peter Alexakis tried to delay malpractice case after patient left him $24m

A doctor who inherited $24 million, including a $3m Sydney house, from a patient he visited almost daily at the end of his life is also at the centre of a medical misconduct case.

Mr McClure’s Strathfield property, worth an estimated $3 million.

A doctor set to inherit $24 million left to him by a patient twice tried to delay NSW’s health care watchdog from conducting hearings into allegations he had inappropriate dealings with clients.

Strathfield GP Dr Peter Alexakis lost two legal challenges to postpone the professional misconduct claim the Health Care Complaints Commission launched in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal over his relationship with two patients.

Neither of the patients can be named because of a non-publication order placed on their identities by NCAT.

The HCCC case followed separate legal action in the NSW Supreme Court concerning a dying patient who rewrote his will to leave Dr Alexakis 90 per cent of his $27 million fortune.

Dr Alexakis prevailed in that action last Tuesday when Justice Patricia Henry ruled in his favour paving the way for him to inherit the money.

Dr Peter Alexakis.

Patient Raymond McClure.

The medico unsuccessfully argued the NCAT case should be delayed because it overlapped with the Supreme Court case.

He denies any wrongdoing in regard to the unrelated HCCC claims before NCAT.

The HCCC, which has disciplinary powers, took action against Dr Alexakis in May 2020 in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal after a fellow doctor complained about the nature of his relationship with two patients.

Dr Alexakis launched legal action to block the hearing, which was rejected by NCAT on July 14, 2021.

He then appealed to the NSW Court of Appeal and lost again on September 13, 2021.

The hearing went ahead in late 2022 and NCAT has reserved its decision.

The HCCC claimed Dr Alexakis “failed to observe proper professional boundaries” in relation to one of his patients, and demonstrated “unsatisfactory professional conduct with respect to (their) treatment”.

How the Sunday Telegraph covered it.

The HCCC alleged that, in less than four months, Dr Alexakis conducted about 92 “almost daily home visits” to the patient’s home where a visit once a week would have been appropriate.

The watchdog also alleged Dr Alexakis was “guilty” of “professional misconduct” in “respect of prescribing, and management” of a second unrelated patient.

Dr Alexakis unsuccessfully argued that the NCAT case should be delayed because it would overlap with a Supreme Court case relating to the $24 million fortune left to him by one of his patients, Sydney property tycoon Raymond McClure.

Mr McClure, who had no spouse or children, died on November 21, 2017, at age 83, and was Dr Alexakis’ patient between 2014 and 2017.

Four months before he died, Mr McClure updated his will to leave 90 per cent of his $27 million estate, which included a $3 million house in Strathfield.

The previous major beneficiaries of the will — The Salvation Army, Mr McClure’s former business partner and a close friend — launched legal action in the Supreme Court to have the will declared invalid.

In an ultimately unsuccessful action, they alleged Dr Alexakis committed fraud and abused his position of power by convincing the dying man to change his will.

Justice Henry last week ruled there was no evidence that Dr Alexakis engaged in such behaviour, paving the way for him to inherit the $24 million.

The long-running trial also heard that another patient had written a will in 2005 that left Dr Alexakis their entire $80,000 estate.