70 Queensland doctors, nurses and medical practitioners named on health watchdog’s list
Doctors, nurses and health workers have been publicly named after their registrations were either suspended, disqualified, cancelled or hit with strict conditions. Check the table for practitioners in your area.
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More than 70 Queensland doctors, nurses and health workers have been publicly named after coming to the attention of medical authorities in the past year.
Included on the list are doctors, who authorities claim prescribed drugs that led to death, nurses they say failed to constantly check on suicidal patients, theft of prescription pads, sexual assault, rape and even manslaughter.
An additional 21 doctors, 23 nurses, two dentists, five psychologists, four pharmacists and an anaesthetic technician, all practising in Queensland, were added to the list of those who had their registrations cancelled, disqualified or limited with conditions over the past 12 months, along with 18 health workers.
The health watchdog cancelled registrations of 13 Queensland doctors over the year and disqualified the registrations of two.
The majority of practitioners named in the past year were from the state’s southeast and were practising at suburban Brisbane GP clinics including those at Indooroopilly, Toowong, Fitzgibbon and Auchenflower.
Four medical practitioners and six nurses have been suspended since February 2022 and four have commenced proceedings in QCAT for a review of decisions made by the Health Ombudsman.
Doctors Tom Sun Yap from Sunshine Coast; Shaji Raghavan Thampi from Maryborough; and Yohannes Abate Faris from Maroochydore were suspended in the past year.
Sang Uk Park of Salisbury; Mate Brkich of Miami on the Gold Coast; Hervey Bay’s Shaune Lance Hirning and Lesley Lowther of Southport were all also suspended over the past year.
The Health Ombudsman may decide to suspend a practitioner’s registration or place conditions on the practitioner’s registration.
Under the Health Ombudsman Act, immediate registration actions may be published on the ombudsman’s website.
Publication of these decisions ensures the public is sufficiently informed about registered practitioners who are suspended or subject to conditions. Suspended doctors are not allowed to practise while their cases are being heard.
Under changes to federal laws passed in October in Queensland, medical practitioners and nurses in the state who are being investigated for alleged breaches of medical practices can be named on the register, regardless of whether they are ultimately cleared over allegations levelled against them.
Australian Medical Association of Queensland president Dr Maria Boulton said those changes to the federal law had gone too far.
“We support every effort to protect the community from unsafe practitioners but everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty,” she said.
“AHPRA already has powers to shut down practitioners if there is a risk to public safety and it can prevent practitioners from practising while under investigation.
“Naming practitioners publicly is an irreversible step and can destroy a person’s reputation, their career and their life.”
However, easy access to the information about a medical practitioner’s registration status, depends on knowing the doctor or medical worker’s name.
IPSWICH
Dr Ramin Harirchian: CANCELLED
Dr Ramin Harirchian’s registration was cancelled in March 2022 and he was disqualified from applying for registration for two years after a QCAT decision following a Health Ombudsman appeal.
The cancellation came 18 months after the doctor was convicted, after trial, for sexual assault of a female patient during a consultation and sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment suspended after three months for an operational period of two years.
The doctor had told the patient she looked sexy, slapped her on the bottom and asked how much sex she and her husband had, before touching her vagina with his bare hand, a court heard.
He pleaded guilty to various dishonesty and drug related offences and was fined in December 2019 for the sexual assault which took place in October 2018.
In March 2020, his registration was suspended.
He successfully sought a review of that decision in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal in December 2020 and appealed that review to the Court of Appeal. He had been suspended since June 2021.
GYMPIE
Kaja Francesca Warren, Nurse: PROHIBITION/DISQUALIFIED
Former Gympie nurse Kaja Francesca Warren was barred from working as a health practitioner for three years in April, 2022 after she was convicted for the indecent treatment of a 12-year-old boy at a party in 2015.
Warren is prohibited from providing a health service to patients under the age of 18 years until she obtains registration as a health practitioner.
The prohibition order was put in place when a QCAT tribunal decided Warren had behaved in a way that constituted professional misconduct.
An interim prohibition order of the Health Ombudsman from May 2016 was set aside.
The tribunal heard the registered nurse had pleaded guilty to unlawfully and indecently dealing with a 12-year-old boy at a party in 2015.
She was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for an operational period of two years. In October 2017, she pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching her bail, one for common assault in April 2016, and two for failing to appear in court on October 24, 2016, and January 13, 2017.
For these she was sentenced to three months’ jail, wholly suspended, and fined $200.
Her registration lapsed in July 2017, and in June 2018, she tried to renew it. The QCAT ruling said Warren falsely claimed on her renewal application there had been no change to her criminal history since her last declaration to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.
This omitted the breach of bail charges in 2016 and 2017. The ruling also said she had not worked as a nurse since April 2016, and had told the Ombudsman she had no intention of returning to the job.
SUNSHINE COAST
Peter James Hoddle, Pomona: CANCELLED/DISQUALIFIED
Peter James Hoddle’s registration was cancelled and he was disqualified from applying for registration as a health practitioner for eight years from March 18, 2022.
The QCAT decision bars him from providing any health service until he obtains registration.
The decision was made after the Health Ombudsman referred the disciplinary proceedings to the tribunal in June 2021.
The tribunal heard Dr Hoddle engaged in criminal conduct in January and April 2019 which resulted in convictions for two counts of sexual assault and two counts of rape in 2021 after a trial in the District Court of Queensland at Maroochydore.
QCAT also heard that on January 19, 2021 he was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment suspended after serving nine months for an operational period of three years.
Hoddle had pleaded not guilty to the charges before his victim was made to give evidence about the assaults that took place at Hoddle’s Pomona practice.
NAMBOUR, Burnside
Anna Kathleen Poole, (aka Burrough): CONDITIONS ON REGISTRATION
Under conditions set by the Health Ombudsman on November 24, 2022, Botox nurse Anna Kathleen Pool (aka Burrough), must be supervised when undertaking cosmetic injectable procedures.
She must consult a supervisor, who is accessible by telephone or other means of telecommunication, about the management of patients and communicate at fortnightly intervals.
Her supervisor must report any “concerns” about her conduct, professional performance or fitness to practise to the healthcare watchdog in quarterly reports.
Ms Poole runs a “home-based cosmetic clinic”, and may continue to practise there if she is supervised, the registration conditions state.
If she wants to work in a new location or start a new job as a nurse, she must get the green light from the Office of the Health Ombudsman first.
Ms Poole previously worked at Elite Body Bar in Maroochydore. The Health Ombudsman’s decision will continue to have effect until the Health Ombudsman or QCAT removes them.
MORETON REGION
Dr John Yuk Ching Ting, Woody Point: CANCELLED
Dr Ting had his registration cancelled in December 2022 and was disqualified from applying for registration as a registered medical health practitioner indefinitely.
The tribunal heard that in 2017, the doctor, who had practised at Marendy Medical Services and Woody Point Medical Centre between 2017 and 2019, had prescribed a Schedule 8 controlled drug to a patient he had not previously met and who had recently been released from prison and was a drug addict.
The patient died later that day after taking the drug. It was not alleged that Dr Ting’s conduct was the direct cause of this patient’s death, but rather that his clinical management was not up to standard.
An assessment by the Medical Board in March 2018 found many aspects of Dr Ting’s professional performance were unsatisfactory and the board imposed conditions on his registration.
In 2019, his endorsements to prescribe Schedule 8 controlled drugs and Schedule 4 drugs of dependency were cancelled.
That decision was contested but upheld in July 2020. In March 2019, the Board took immediate action to suspend the respondent’s registration, which Dr Ting also challenged.
MORETON REGION
Xiuguang Han: CANCELLED
Xiuguang Han had his registration to practise as a nurse cancelled in December 2022.
The decision followed a ruling in the Supreme Court of Queensland in October 2022 dismissing an appeal by Han after he was convicted of rape and indecent assault and sentenced.
He agreed that the conduct of two of the counts occurred but alleged that they were consensual and disagreed that two of the counts occurred at all.
The court heard Han had sexually assaulted a female colleague in his car with inappropriate touching and kissing.
The court heard he unzipped the woman’s pants and put his fingers around the complainant’s vagina.
REDCLIFFE
Medium Ndlovu, Nurse: CANCELLED
The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal banned Medium Ndlovu in March 2022 from working as a nurse until she obtains registration as a health practitioner.
The former registered nurse, who was 39 when she was working at a Redcliffe Lutheran centre was found to have contravened conditions of her registration when she worked without a supervisor.
The tribunal was told she had made various false and misleading statements to the Medical Board and had psychiatric disorders.
QCAT heard that Ndlovu told the Medical Board she was practising as a registered nurse in Dubai and had been doing so over six months, when she had in fact never travelled to Dubai.
She has not worked as a registered nurse since May 2017.
BEAUDESERT
Dr Matthew Thomas Kelly, Beaudesert: CONDITIONS ON REGISTRATION
The Health Ombudsman imposed conditions on the registration of Dr Matthew Thomas Kelly, barring him from any contact with female patients under 18 years of age.
He can only practise as a registered health practitioner at locations approved by the Health Ombudsman and must tell female patients under 18 years of age he cannot treat them.
Initial conditions took effect on September 16, 2022 but the Health Ombudsman then varied the conditions on December 7, 2022.
Dr Kelly has been ordered to apply for approval to continue practising at his current health service by giving proof that his employer knows of the conditions limiting his work with women.
LOGAN
Steve Andelkovic, Beenleigh, nurse: CANCELLED, DISQUALIFIED
The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal found Steve Andelkovic had behaved in a way that constituted professional misconduct and cancelled his registration in March 2022.
He was also disqualified from applying for registration as a health practitioner until April 25, 2023.
The Health Ombudsman’s decision in April 2018 to suspend his registration was set aside. QCAT heard the former registered nurse had defrauded friends of $100,000 and was convicted in April 2019 after pleading guilty in Beenleigh District Court.
He was sentenced to three-years-and-six-months’ in prison suspended after serving 10 months for an operational period of four years.
He was also convicted of offences involving violence and a threat to kill his estranged wife in the Beenleigh District Court in May 2021 and was sentenced to community-based orders.
Dr Parvezraza Ahmedhusen Sherasia, Underwood: CONDITIONS ON REGISTRATION
The Health Ombudsman imposed conditions on the registration of Dr Parvezraza Ahmedhusen Sherasia, effective from May 9, 2022.
Conditions imposed include no contact with female patients and he can only practise at locations approved by the Health Ombudsman.
MACKAY
Dr George Campbell Du Toit: CONDITIONS ON REGISTRATION
The Health Ombudsman barred Dr George Campbell Du Toit from any surgical procedures that require an incision of the skin or mucous membrane effective from June 27, 2022.
The health watchdog also barred the former clinical director of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Mackay Base Hospital from any involvement with women during labour and immediately after birth.
He resigned from the Mackay hospital, where he had worked for 12 months, after he was suspended and following a review amid concerns about bad patient outcomes.
BRISBANE
Jodie Maree Powell, South Brisbane: CANCELLED
The nursing registration of Jodie Maree Powell was cancelled in a March 2022 QCAT hearing after she was found guilty of professional misconduct.
Under the QCAT ruling, she was disqualified for reapplying for registration as a nurse until December 13, 2027.
She had pleaded guilty in the Queensland Supreme Court to manslaughter and assault occasioning bodily harm whilst armed in company in August 2021.
The Supreme Court heard she failed to obtain medical treatment for her foster child, a young boy, who had developed bronchopneumonia and was choking on a sandwich.
The death did not occur in her professional capacity as a nurse.
She was convicted on her own plea and sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for manslaughter and 12 months and nine months imprisonment for two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm whilst armed and in company against the same child.
She was eligible for parole June 14, 2020, after serving three-and-a-half years’ imprisonment.
WYNNUM
Charlie Leigh Self: DISQUALIFIED
Charlie Leigh Self also known as Charlie Leigh Ash, was disqualified from applying for nursing registration for 12 months after a decision in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal in March 2022.
The tribunal heard she had stolen an unknown number of prescription pads from the Wynnum Medical Centre at Tingalpa, between May 1, 2019 and April 24, 2020.
The tribunal also heard she had then forged prescriptions and obtained controlled drugs for her own use. Those drugs were dispensed to her when she worked at the Albany Creek Dental Practice at Albany Creek and Merthyr Seven Day Medical Centre at New Farm.
She was convicted of those offences on November 18, 2020 and sentenced to probation for 18 months. She was removed from the public register after she wrote to the Medical Board saying she was not renewing her registration.
She has also been convicted of assaulting police after an incident on May 19, 2019 and was fined $500. As she was no longer registered, the tribunal was unable to suspend or cancel her registration.
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