Fraud Epworth doctor gave patient fentanyl, told her he loved her

An Epworth doctor who spent years behind bars for fraud and drug offences before retraining as a psychiatrist has been busted having an inappropriate relationship with a patient.

Dr Henry Caudle told a patient he loved her and inappropriately prescribed addictive medications to vulnerable women.

An Epworth psychiatrist with a serious criminal history told a patient he loved her and inappropriately prescribed addictive medications to vulnerable women battling drug and weight issues.

Dr Henry Caudle was reprimanded and disqualified from registering as a health practitioner until May 2025 following a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing into years of misconduct involving female patients starting in 2017.

The former morphine-addict had convictions for prescription fraud and dangerous drug offences and spent six years in a Queensland prison before retraining as a psychiatrist employed at Epworth Health.

The tribunal heard he breached professional boundaries by forming a close personal relationship with a troubled female patient, who he kissed during sessions and confessed his love to.

The woman came into his care after being admitted as an inpatient with depression, suicidality and an eating disorder exacerbated by a sexual assault.

Dr Henry Caudle spent six years in a Queensland prison before retraining as a psychiatrist employed at Epworth Health Picture: David Crosling

The tribunal heard Dr Caudle would pay her out-of-pocket medical expenses so she could keep seeing him twice a week, let her stay the night in his office and sent her texts saying he couldn’t imagine life without her and she was the “type of woman he would want to marry”.

Dr Caudle abruptly ended their therapeutic relationship without warning in July 2017 because he feared it had breached professional boundaries.

However he failed to refer the unwell woman to another medical practitioner despite her fragile state and worsening drug addiction.

At this point, the woman had progressed from using fentanyl to heroin daily.

“We regard Dr Caudle’s conduct as very serious. Dr Caudle did not merely blur professional boundaries with (the patient). He breached the boundaries. The breaches were substantial and were repeated,” the tribunal found.

Dr Caudle also inappropriately prescribed her fentanyl and gave her Valium after he was no longer her doctor.

The tribunal heard he also inappropriately prescribed oxycodone, buprenorphine patches, tramadol and the obesity medication Duromine to a female patient with a history of bulimia and opiate addiction.

Dr Caudle spent six years in prison for serious drug offending including forging prescriptions to feed his enormous morphine addiction in the early 2000s.

At the height of his offending, Dr Caudle forged names and signatures – including those of dead patients – to obtain opiates from more than 20 pharmacies, and stole prescription pads from clinics where he worked as a locum doctor.

“It’s quite terrifying to think of a doctor continuing to practise on this amount of drugs. He knew what he was doing was wrong but continued doing it,” Crown prosecutor Paul Alsbury said in the Brisbane District Court in 2002.

Dr Caudle re-registered as a medical practitioner in 2009, becoming a psychiatrist in 2016.