Mohammad Azizul Karim faces VCAT panel after kissing patient

A sleazy doctor and father-of-three is facing punishment after trying to smooch a patient under his care. See the details here.

The incident at Seymour St Medical centre, which terminated Dr Karim's contract afterwards.

A doctor and father-of-three who tried to smooch his patient after a consultation could have his licence to practise suspended.

Dr Mohammad Azizul Karim, 68, fronted a VCAT hearing against the Medical Board of Australia over his “professional misconduct” with a patient in November 2018.

The victim went to the Seymour Street Medical and Dental Centre in Ringwood for a consultation with Dr Karim.

At the end of their consultation, she thanked Dr Karim to which he replied “anything for a beautiful girl” before asking to hug her as she tried to leave the room.

After their hug, Dr Karim tried to kiss the victim but she turned to avoid him and left the centre.

Matthew Condello, appearing for the Medical Board of Australia, submitted the victim felt she had “no choice” in Dr Karim’s request and after the incident, she felt “violated”.

The tribunal Dr Karim’s actions had left the victim with “anxiety” about seeing a medical professional.

Sean Cash, representing Dr Karim submitted that Dr Karim should have realised she was “awkward” about the whole thing but the offending was at the “lower end” of the sexual misconduct scale. Both sides agreed to the facts of the case and the characterisation of the offending.

Mr Condello said the board wanted to see Dr Karim reprimanded and suspended for nine months to “denounce” his “professional misconduct” and to “send a message” to the general public that their safety was “paramount”.

The tribunal heard that Dr Karim had been reprimanded for an incident where he saw a female patient twice in 2009. In the first consultation, he wiped away her tears and kissed her forehead and later, in the second consultation, he gave her a hug and tried to kiss her on the cheek.

Mr Condello submitted Dr Karim’s repeated actions in 2018 after the incident almost a decade earlier proved a reprimand was not “sufficient” enough.

Dr Karim’s representation revealed the father-of-three had lost around seven and a half months of work since the 2018 incident happened after being stood down and terminated by his former workplace. Dr Karim had also been convicted in the Ringwood Magistrates’ Court in 2019 over the unlawful assault and granted a community corrections order.

Mr Cash urged the tribunal consider the “aftermath and repercussions” that Dr Karim had endured since the incident especially the “public humiliation” of a conviction.

The tribunal reserved its judgment and will deliver written orders and reasons with its findings at a later date.