Surgeon reprimanded for sharing photo of comatose patient’s swastika-tattooed penis

A surgeon has been reprimanded and fined after sharing a photo of a comatose patient’s penis, which was tattooed with a swastika.

A surgeon has been reprimanded and fined after sharing a photo of a comatose patient’s penis, which was tattooed with a swastika.

An orthopaedic surgeon has been reprimanded and fined $10,000 after sharing a photo of a comatose patient’s penis, which was tattooed with a swastika, on WhatsApp.

The surgeon, whose name has been suppressed, was treating the man in a regional Queensland hospital in April 2019 after a homemade pipe-bomb exploded in his hands.

The man was placed in intensive care where he was intubated and in a coma for a week, during which he was treated by the doctor who was employed by the hospital.

While undergoing treatment, the surgeon “noticed the swastika tattoo and photographed it”, a finding by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal states.

The surgeon proceeded to share the photo with other treating practitioners on WhatsApp “or a similar platform”, which had “no clinical or medical purpose”.

A notification was made to the Office of the Health Ombudsman in December 2019, with a subsequent investigation being referred to the medical tribunal.

In his decision, Tribunal member Peter Murphy SC said the surgeon’s unprofessional conduct was serious, but that he “immediately regretted” taking the photo.

“The patient was unconscious and particularly vulnerable,” Mr Murphy said.

A surgeon has been reprimanded and fined after sharing a photo of a comatose patient’s penis, which was tattooed with a swastika.

“The trust reposed by the patient in his treating doctors can be seen to be particularly acute in those circumstances.”

The Medical Board of Australia submitted to the Tribunal that the doctor should be suspended from practise for six months and have a mentoring condition attached.

In his ruling, Mr Murphy instead ruled that a finding of misconduct was sufficient and fined the surgeon $10,000.

Criminal proceedings were brought against the doctor, but were dismissed after he agreed with the patient to a “private arrangement” at a restorative justice conference.

The surgeon, referred to in the decision as Doctor A, told the tribunal he had been “subjected to racism in various forms” throughout his life in Australia.

“It has caused him significant distress, manifesting in him ultimately changing his name formally,” Mr Murphey said.

The tribunal member said the appearance of the swastika on the man’s penis “triggered feelings of shock and offence”.

“He understood the swastika to represent racism and to be derogatory of people with his ethnic origins,” he said.

Mr Murphy said the surgeon was also facing considerable stress within the public health system at the time of the incident.

The doctor has since resigned from the hospital and in the five years since the incident complaint was made has returned to private practise.