Former Epworth radiation oncologist banned for prescribing himself Viagra
A former Epworth radiation oncologist, who prescribed himself Viagra then slipped it to his partner and plied prostitutes with addictive drugs without examining them, has been banned from medicine for the next year.
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A former Epworth radiation oncologist who plied prostitutes with drugs and prescribed Viagra for himself has been banned from medicine for the next year.
Dr Syed Islam – who worked at Melbourne’s Alfred hospital early in his career and won a full scholarship to Oxford University – admitted to 11 serious allegations in a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) hearing last month, including prescribing drugs to prostitutes without examining them or keeping proper records.
Dr Islam prescribed four female sex workers, on eight occasions, addictive drugs including diazepam, oxycodone, alprazolam and MS Contin, the Medical Board found.
He also forged a doctor’s name on a prescription pad, inappropriately prescribed the sex drug Viagra for himself and secretly slipped it to his then partner.
Dr Islam admitted his behaviour between 2015 and 2018 breached the Australian doctors’ code of conduct but had consistently denied he had given the prostitutes drug prescriptions in lieu of payment for sex, the board said.
Instead, he told the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) he had been unable to refuse the women’s demands for drugs.
This jarred with the evidence of one sex worker, who told medical investigators the prescriptions had been used in contra deal type arrangements, and “other street girls had been paid by Dr Islam in this way” also.
“While we do not make the finding that he did, neither do we, however, blindly accept the explanation that Dr Islam struggled … to say ‘no’.
“Although we were told that Dr Islam was suffering from an undiagnosed mental health condition throughout this period, we had some difficulty aligning this with the fact that he was in all other aspects of his life, highly successful,” the board noted.
“During this same period, Dr Islam underwent extremely taxing but successful examinations for specialist accreditation … in August 2017 Dr Islam obtained his fellowship of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists … around the same time, he formally applied for a highly competitive position to work as an oncology fellow at Oxford University Hospital and obtained a full scholarship to study and obtain a degree in experimental and translational therapeutics at Oxford University.”
In December 2017 he moved to Warrnambool and started his “dream” job as a consultant radiation oncologist with Epworth Health Care, a career which came to an abrupt end when the health service discovered he was under investigation and made him resign, the tribunal was told.
“Dr Islam’s conduct was serious. At all times he (at least intellectually) knew that the drugs he was prescribing were dangerous, but he prescribed them anyway. He knew that it is always essential to get an appropriate history, but he did not do so. He knew the necessity to obtain a working diagnosis but did not,” it heard.
Dr Islam’s registration had been suspended for some time already but he would be banned for reapplying for his medical licence for a further 14 months, from the hearing date of August 13 2020, VCAT determined.
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