Doctor banned for using patient for ‘sexual gratification’

A former men’s health doctor who propositioned a patient on the gay dating app Grindr and used sexualised language and inappropriate examinations during a check-up has lost his medical licence for six years.

A men’s health doctor has been banned from working in any health service after a ‘gross abuse of patients’ trust’.

A doctor who put “his own sexual gratification above the will of his patient” has had his medical licence cancelled for six years.

Former men’s health doctor Conway Lee propositioned a patient on the gay dating app Grindr, made him masturbate during a consultation and asked if he could make a “home visit” the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal heard.

But while Dr Lee was banned from seeing patients, he could still apply for other work in the medical field, including as an educator or adviser, the tribunal determined last month.

The Medical Board had sought a prohibition order preventing Dr Lee from working in any health service, “whether as an employee, contractor, manager or volunteer … directly or indirectly”, following his “gross abuse of patient trust” with two male patients in 2017 and a finding of professional misconduct.

Dr Lee, 39, crossed boundaries when he flirted with a patient on Grindr, used sexualised language ­during a check-up and conducted “sexualised and/or inappropriate examinations of his patients’ genitals”, it said. The Medical Board told the tribunal: “The conduct was inconsistent with Dr Lee being a fit and proper person to hold registration as a medical practitioner.”

In several consultations, while taking the blood pressure of one of his patients, Dr Lee also placed his hand high up on the “inner thigh in a flirtatious and inappropriate manner”.

The Medical Board submitted Dr Lee’s conduct, in prioritising “his own sexual gratification above the will of his patient” was at odds with the values of the doctors’ code of conduct.

The tribunal agreed. “The offending reflects gravely on Dr Lee’s character and demonstrates a wholesale absence of insight into his compliance with standards and expec­tations of the profession,” it said.

It found Dr Lee’s conduct was a “gross boundary violation” and too serious for his medical licence to just be suspended.

“We have reached the conclusion that Dr Lee should be disqualified from applying for registration for six years from the date of this decision,” VCAT determined on May 26.

A submission on behalf of Dr Lee made on April 14 said he hoped to work “where he may put his knowledge and experience of the medical profession to practical use, but in circumstances where he would not be involved in a clinical context”.

As such, he was interested in pursuing positions in medical management and administration, as a medi­cal educator or in an advisory role.

In failing to grant the prohibition order, VCAT said Dr Lee was entitled to earn a living while disqualified.

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