South Australian nurses banned or restricted from practice and two fake nurses caught in 2024

Forging prescriptions, lying on resumes and impersonating a RAH nurse, these medical professionals had their registrations canned or restricted. Some of them weren’t even qualified.

Harpreet Kaur and Brandon Chesney. Picture: The Advertiser

They’re the people you are meant to trust when you’re at your most vulnerable, but have you stopped to wonder if the nurse helping you is actually qualified to do so?

Some South Australian medical practitioners have found themselves in hot water for a range or reasons. Others have been banned or restricted for reasons unknown, while some simply weren’t supposed to be there in the first place.

These are nurses who had the registrations cancelled or restricted – and the fake ones busted – in 2024 according to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

NURSES

Koa Kien Chau

Campbelltown

“Calculated” registered nurse Koa Kien Chau made false claims about his job experience and qualifications, a tribunal found, cancelling his registration on June 19, 2024.

The South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal found Mr Chau, who was first registered as a nurse in 2014, brought his profession into “disrepute” with his unethical actions.

It found Mr Chau had knowingly made false claims about his experience and qualifications in 11 job applications between January 2018 and January 2021, according the judgment.

The job applications for positions at several Adelaide hospitals had false claims about his previous employment, including that he had been employed as a clinical nurse for the SA Ambulance Service retrieval service MedStar.

The tribunal heard Mr Chau was working a shift at Burnside Hospital in February 2019 when he told another registered nurse that he was an advanced life support instructor and was a level 3 trauma nurse at the RAH.

While Mr Chau was working at the QEH between May and September 2019 he also included “Masters in Nursing” in his email signature.

All of these claims were false.

Eight nurses were banned from practice in 2024. Picture: Stock image

Geoffrey Leonard Atkins

Seacombe Heights

An enrolled nurse, Geoffrey Leonard Atkins’ registration was cancelled from September 5, 2024.

According to AHPRA, Mr Atkins had been practising in Seacombe Heights.

There are no reasons listed for his cancellation.

Kirilie Skye Brady

Evanston Park

Kirilie Skye Brady’s registration as a nurse was cancelled on January 19, 2024.

Before that date, she was practising out of Evanston Park.

There are no reasons listed for her cancellation.

Jennie Ann Goult

Tonsley

Jennie Ann Goult obtained blank prescription pads without authority which she used to falsify or forge prescriptions, a tribunal found before cancelling her registration.

Ms Goult, who gained her registration as a nurse in 1999, was working at a major Adelaide hospital in the community palliative care service where she was involved in the care of two patients and also had access to their personal details.

The tribunal found between October 22 and December 17, 2019, she falsified or forged four prescriptions to obtain medication, including OxyContin, Oxynorm, Oxazepam, Hydromorphone and Midazolam.

Ms Goult presented the first three of the four prescription pads to a pharmacy and was given the medication, with the third prescription obtained in two parts on separate occasions.

However, when she tried to fill the fourth at the hospital pharmacy, she aroused suspicions and wasn’t given any of the “prescribed” medication.

Investigations into her actions then began, and she was charged by police.

She pleaded guilty to one count of forging a prescription – which only related to the final script she attempted to fill.

Ms Goult was sentenced without a criminal conviction to a good behaviour bond for 18 months which she completed without incident.

One nurse was banned for writing her own prescriptions. Picture: Stock image

Margaret Ellen Crocker

Kingscote

Margaret Ellen Crocker’s registration was cancelled by AHPRA as of November 6, 2024.

Prior to this, the registered nurse worked in Kingscote as her principal place of practice.

There are no reasons listed for her cancellation.

John Wayne McMahon

Adelaide

Enrolled nurse John Wayne McMahon’s registration was cancelled by AHPRA as of August 23, 2024.

Prior to this, he worked in Adelaide as his principal place of practice.

There are no reasons listed for his cancellation.

Arthur Moutakis

Modbury

Arthur Moutakis’s nurse registration was cancelled by AHPRA as of July 24, 2024.

Prior to this, the registered nurse worked in Modbury as his principal place of practice.

There are no reasons listed for his cancellation.

Nicole Richardson

Mount Jagged

Enrolled nurse Nicole Richardson’s registration was cancelled by AHPRA as of December 11, 2024.

Prior to this, she worked in Mount Jagged as her principal place of practice.

There are currently no reasons listed for her cancellation.

FAKE NURSES

Harpreet Kaur

This young “nurse” was practising as a nurse with a fake registration certificate but told a court she didn’t intentionally commit any crimes, she simply fell for an online scam.

Harpreet Kaur, 31, confessed to two counts of claiming to be a health practitioner, but said she hadn’t intentionally misled her employer.

After giving her pleas quietly from the dock in August last year, Kaur’s lawyer flagged there would be some legal dispute because her client had no intention to give her employers a false registration document.

Harpreet Kaur, the disgraced fake nurse who tried to trick clients into thinking she was the real, leaves the Adelaide Magistrates Court. Picture: Brenton Edwards

In a statement, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation told The Advertiser “Ms Kaur, who has never held registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, is alleged to have provided one employer a false AHPRA certificate of registration and sent another employer an email advising she had received her Registered Nurse registration”.

Craig Fabbian, prosecuting, said he would accept Kaur’s guilty pleas, but did not accept she acted without knowing her certificate was fake.

Kaur is yet to be sentenced.

Brandon Chesney

He impersonated a Royal Adelaide Hospital nurse, stole medical supplies, failed to correctly remove an IV cannula from a patient – who suffered an allergic reaction when he administered the wrong tape, a court heard.

Brandon Chesney, 23, pleaded guilty to serious criminal trespass, dishonestly taking property, possessing prohibited material (identity theft), possessing an unregistered firearm, and being unlawfully on premises.

Brandon Chesney leaving Adelaide Magistrates Court in April. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Morgan Sette

At his last appearance, Chesney, from Newton, also pleaded guilty to a further two counts – contravening conditions of his L plates and driving without L plates – relating to his actions in the carpark of the hospital in June.

Documents previously released by the court reveal Mr Chesney had been onsite at the RAH “without lawful excuse” 13 times between April 12 and June 12 in 2023.

He is yet to be sentenced.

Originally published as South Australian nurses banned or restricted from practice and two fake nurses caught in 2024