Andrew Kaye: former Hawthorn board member and neurosurgeon accused of sexual misconduct

Top neurosurgeon and former Hawthorn board member Andrew Kaye has been accused of sexual misconduct.

Former professor of neurosurgery Andrew Kaye, 74, leaves the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Prominent Melbourne brain surgeon and former Hawthorn Football Club board member Andrew Kaye allegedly made an unwanted sexual advance on a young female medico before suddenly leaving Australia.

Dr Kaye, a former professor of neurosurgery at the University of Melbourne, quit his professorship and his role on the Hawks’ board in the months after being accused of sexual misconduct.

Dr Kaye, who is the brother of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Kaye, on Tuesday faced a misconduct hearing in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Dr Kaye stands accused of violating “professional boundaries” by making the improper sexual advance on the couch of his office at Melbourne Private Hospital.

He has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.

Barrister Ben Jellis, SC, for medical regulator, AHPRA, said Dr Kaye invited the woman to his office, alone, for a glass of whisky.

The tribunal heard Dr Kaye asked the woman in the days leading up to the alleged incident whether she was married, as well as telling her she was “a remarkable person”.

The woman, who cannot be named, told the tribunal: “I personally was uncomfortable with that, because it was my personal life”.

Another doctor who witnessed that conversation agreed that “banter type interesting discussions were regularly undertaken by Dr Kaye”.

Now-former professor of neurosurgery Andrew Kaye.

Dr Andrew Kaye shot to public prominence amid public fears of a mad cow disease outbreak in the mid-2000s

Dr Kaye’s barrister, Jeremy Ruskin, KC, said the “eminent” surgeon disputed much of the woman’s account, and “will be contesting vigorously” the allegation about an improper sexual advance.

Mr Ruskin said Dr Kaye once chastised the woman for coming to work with a backpack on, because it did not look “serious” enough.

He said Dr Kaye accepted “the unwisdom” of drinking alone after work, in a closed office with a younger woman.

Mr Ruskin spent much of Tuesday’s hearing accusing the woman of fabricating various aspects of her account.

“It’s completely false, and you know it’s false,” Mr Ruskin said to the woman, which she denied.

“The truth is that your version is quite false and quite wrong.”

The woman replied: “No, it’s not.”

The allegation dates from mid-2019.

Shortly afterwards, Dr Kaye quit all of his major commitments in Australia, including his professorship, his board position, and his work at Melbourne Private Hospital.

When he resigned from Hawthorn, president Jeff Kennett said in an email to club members announcing Dr Kaye’s resignation and his move to Israel: “Andrew is perhaps Australia’s leading neurosurgeon, with huge leadership responsibilities …”

“On behalf of the Board, and I am sure the Hawthorn Family, I want to thank Andrew and his wife Judith for the considerable time they spent on Hawthorn matters over the journey.”

The hearing continues. Dr Kaye is expected to give evidence on Wednesday.