Doctor Brian Lewis Neale’s registration cancelled for professional misconduct at Taree

A Mid-North Coast doctor called his young patient and offered to pay her for sex - saying ‘some younger girls find older men attractive’ - and claimed it was role play therapy.

A doctor who called his young female patient and offered her money for sex - saying words to the effect of ‘some younger girls find older men attractive’ - has had his registration cancelled for professional misconduct.

A doctor who called his young female patient and offered her money for sex - saying words to the effect of ‘some younger girls find older men attractive’ - has had his registration cancelled for professional misconduct.

Dr Brian Lewis Neale was working at Taree’s Mayo Private Hospital as a consultant psychiatrist at the time of the phone call in September 2020.

His patient was 21 at the time and Neale had been treating her since she was 16 and seeing a school counsellor.

During the phone call which was not scheduled, he offered her money for sex and asked if she was attracted to him and when she said no, he continued questioning her, finally ending the conversation with words to the effect:

“I thought I’d just ask anyway. Forget I said anything and I’ll go back to being your nice and caring psychiatrist.”

Mayo Private Hospital at Taree. Picture: Janine Watson

In his response to the complaint Neale claimed the phone call was a type of role playing exercise and that he had since changed his ways after a number of supervision sessions with a psychiatrist between May 2021 and January 2023.

He claimed these sessions gave him an “opportunity to reflect” on his approach.

“Since receiving the complaint I also reflected on the use of role play as a treatment method and what occurred on September 1, 2020, at length.

“I confirm that the incident was a deviation from my usual practise of psychiatry,” he told the complaints commission.

Dr Neale first obtained a Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery in Rhodesia in 1979.

From 2001 to 2009 he worked as a psychiatrist in Tasmania before coming to Taree.

Manning Base Hospital in Taree. Picture: Janine Watson

Between 2009 and 2015 he worked as a staff specialist psychiatrist at the Manning Base Hospital where his role included support of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Team and supervision and training of a psychiatric registrar and junior medical staff.

In 2015, Neale started working as a consultant psychiatrist at the Mayo Private Hospital and Clinic in Taree where he supervised two psychiatric registrars.

It was there in May 2016 that he received a referral from the patient’s GP - she was 16 at the time.

According to the Health Care Complaints Commission agreed facts, Dr Neale diagnosed her with attention deficit disorder and began prescribing methylphenidate (Ritalin) when the girl was just 17 despite knowing it had a “street value” and knowing it posed a potential risk of side effects including allergic reaction, depression, a decreased weight and suicidal ideation.

He prescribed 600 tablets in total and knew the victim was seeing a school counsellor and receiving treatment from her psychologist but did not request any information from them.

The Civil and Administrative Tribunal was satisfied that the Health Care Complaints Commission established the particulars of the phone call and on September 11 cancelled his registration with a one year non-review period.

In addition to the finding he made inappropriate and persistent contact with the female patient, requesting sex in exchange for money, it was found he failed to keep adequate clinical notes for the patient.

Originally published as Doctor Brian Lewis Neale’s registration cancelled for professional misconduct at Taree