‘Show me photos’: Doctor hit with five year ban after ‘breaching boundaries’ with patients

Dr Fady Malak faced the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal this week following allegations he had “breached professional boundaries” with “three vulnerable patients”.

A doctor who kissed a patient on the neck before massaging her buttocks and telling her he had liked her “for a long time” has been found guilty of professional misconduct and banned from the medical field for five years.

Dr Fady Raafat Lewis Malak faced the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal this week following allegations from the Health Care Complaints Commission he had “breached professional boundaries” with “three vulnerable patients” across 2019 and 2020.

Dr Malak was 38 and working as a GP across Erina and West Gosford at the time of the alleged offending, with the tribunal finding the public needed to be “protected from the unacceptable risk” the doctor posed by providing health services “of any kind”.

Dr Fady Malak has been banned from the medical field. Picture: Richard Noone

In the first case, Dr Malak hugged a female patient telling her she was “very special” which made her feel “extremely uncomfortable”.

In the second case, the tribunal heard how Dr Malak performed an internal vaginal examination on a patient before having sex with her. He then sent her dozens of messages and told her he loved her.

“Show me photos of your body,” he wrote in one message.

“Miss you alot (sic),” he said in another.

In the third instance, of which he was previously criminally convicted, Dr Malak locked the consulting room door before rubbing the buttocks of a patient. He also kissed her neck and told the patient he had liked her for a very long time.

He pleaded guilty to the offence in 2021 at Gosford Local Court. He was handed an intensive corrections order for 14 months and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.

Dr Malak immigrated from Egypt to Australia in 2015.

The tribunal heard how the patient responded by saying: “Are you f**king kidding, you are married and you are my doctor. You are crossing the f**king line. What about your wife and kids?”

He was not criminally charged in relation to the first two incidents.

The practitioner argued the behaviour was “completely out of character” and an “isolated incident”, however, this was not accepted by the tribunal.

In handing down the judgment, the tribunal said they “accepted the evidence” and said there was “compelling support” for a five-year ban.