Sydney ENT surgeon, Dr Tobias Pincock, blames shocking drug test result on bagels

A troubled surgeon has once again been hauled in front of medical authorities, this time after testing positive to a catalogue of illicit drugs.

An embattled Sydney surgeon has once again been hauled in front of medical authorities, this time after testing positive for a slew of illicit drugs.

Dr Tobias Pincock, throughout his career as a ENT (ear, nose and throat) surgeon, has been found to have performed a nose job on a patient 45 minutes after they suffered a cardiac arrest, losing $500,000 of his patient’s money after convincing them to invest in a fund he majority-owned, and now getting done for being on illicit drugs while working.

Dr Tobias Pincock previously had his own clinic but is currently barred from practising medicine. Picture: Jenny Evans

Australia’s medical regulator, the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC), on Tuesday released its findings from a tribunal held in late 2024, which investigated a complaint against Dr Pincock.

The complaint alleged that Dr Pincock breached the conditions on his registration by “testing positive for illicit drugs, failing to attend drug screening on a number of occasions, providing a number of dilute urine samples” and “failing to attend for treatment and monitoring.”

Due to past positive tests, Dr Pincock was required to undertake periodic as well as random drug testing, but throughout the testing, Dr Pincock tested positive for cocaine, Endone, Temazepam, Endep, quetiapine, lignocaine, oxycodone, morphine, codeine, opiates and benzodiazepines.

An image from the website of Dr. Pincock.

Dr Pincock provided the tribunal with many explanations for these positive results.

Urinary drug testing on 13 January 2020 and 18 May 2022 indicated Dr Pincock had self-administered an amphetamine and an opioid, respectively.

Dr Pincock claimed that he had either eaten several poppy seed bagels on the day of testing or the previous day, and that this was possibly the cause of a false positive result.

However, the HCCC found “at a time after (Dr Pincock) was tested on 18 May 2022, he photographed a packet of bagels, a toaster and a knife and sent that photo to the Medical Council.

“It is clear that this photo was not taken at the time the bagels were eaten but at the time he sent the photograph to the Medical Council, and tolerably clear that the practitioner, in effect, re-set the scene from earlier by posing the bagels with the toaster etc.”

In his statement to the tribunal, Dr Pincock said he had not “intentionally acted to be in breach of his conditions”, yet the tribunal found on several occasions “that is exactly what he did”.

Dr Pincock was declared bankrupt in 2018 with almost $7 million in debt. Picture: Supplied.

Dr Pincock came to the notice of medical regulators in 2016 when a complaint was made which alleged that he had used nitrous oxide recreationally. During an assessment by Dr Robert Fisher, Dr Pincock allegedly admitted to self-administering nitrous oxide to manage a panic attack.

This was far from Dr Pincock’s first brush with medical authorities. In 2011, Dr Pincock was “reprimanded in the strongest terms” by a medical committee for performing a nose job on a patient 45 minutes after they had suffered a cardiac arrest.

The patient required resuscitation and three defibrillations yet Dr Pincock allegedly felt that the patient would be “disappointed” if the surgery didn’t happen and “might be reluctant to try again at a later date.”

In January, Dr Pincock was found guilty of professional misconduct and barred from practising medicine for 18 months after encouraging two patients to invest over $500,000 into a trust he majority owned.

Dr Pincock’s Instagram bio reads “Dr. Pincock is a highly recognised and experienced Head and Neck Surgeon, with international training and qualifications in facial plastics”.

The HCCC alleged that in 2015, Dr Pincock encouraged one of his patients to invest $335,000 into the “Australian Allergy Centre” trust while both still employing her and continuing the doctor-patient relationship.

The patient alleged Dr Pincock made the representation that “the investment would mean that her children with disabilities would be financially taken care of for life and that the return on her investment would be $5,000,000 in five years.”

The Civil and Administrative Tribunal of NSW (NCAT) found that “Dr Pincock did not know, even in general terms, how much the [clinic] business was worth or would be worth in five years’ time.”

Dr Pincock is currently barred from practising medicine until mid-2026 as a result of earlier findings. Orders from his latest tribunal hearing render him unable to re-register as a clinician for 9 months, which will expire within the timeframe of his earlier orders.

Dr Pincock charged with any criminal wrongdoing in relation to what was raised in the HCCC proceedings.

Dr Pincock did not respond to news.com.au’s request for comment, although it is understood he denies all allegations.