Qld GP accused of choking, suffocation or strangulation in domestic relationship allowed to practise

A Brisbane doctor facing charges of choking, suffocation or strangulation in a domestic relationship is allowed to keep practising while awaiting trial, a tribunal has ruled.

Dr Rupin Aggarwal, who works at work at The Lockyer Doctors.

A Queensland doctor who is facing charges of choking, suffocation or strangulation in a domestic relationship is allowed to keep practising while awaiting trial, as long as he does not treat DV victims, a tribunal has ruled.

In a decision handed down on Monday, Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Judicial Member Julie Dick SC and three other panel members, ruled that restrictions limiting Rupin Aggarwal’s work to skin checks, skin cancer and a “voluntary assisted dying service” to a patient who has been referred to him were too severe.

Dr Aggarwal, 46, a general practitioner from Teneriffe in Brisbane, is allowed to work at the four locations of The Lockyer Doctors which include clinics in Laidley, Rosewood, Plainland and Gatton, was hit with restrictions by the state’s health ombudsman on April 5.

The restrictions came five months after he was charged with two counts of choking, suffocation or strangulation in a domestic setting at an address in Fig Tree Pocket, in Brisbane’s west.

The QCAT quoted from the Queensland Police Service Court Brief, which sets out the allegations against Dr Aggarwal, stating the alleged victim says he choked her on two occasions within a short time frame on the same evening in March 2020.

He denies that the alleged choking occurred.

Dr Rupin Aggarwal.

“The charges are currently at the stage of a part-heard committal and the parties agree that a trial in the District Court is unlikely to be listed within two years (at the minimum),” the QCAT decision states.

The tribunal noted the charges do not relate to a patient and the credit of the witnesses will be an issue at trial and that the QCAT’s decision was not about whether Dr Aggarwal has committed the choking alleged.

Dr Aggarwal told the QCAT his income has been significantly reduced since he has been limited to only doing skin checks, and he is supporting a family in Australia and parents in India.

The QCAT ruled that Dr Aggarwal should have less restrictions on his work, and is now only banned from having contact with, treating or continue to treat, a patient after becoming aware the patient may be experiencing, or has experienced, any form of domestic and family violence.

Dr Aggarwal’s voluntary assisted dying practitioner status was suspended on 18 June this year until a full review can be undertaken by the Queensland Voluntary Assisted Dying Practitioner Eligibility Panel, the decision states.

The Health Ombudsman submitted in the Tribunal that allowing Dr Aggarwal to keep practising while facing these charges will undermine public confidence and trust in the medical profession, given the vital role played by general practitioners in the early identification, support and treatment of domestic violence victims.

They submitted that the fact of charges having been laid, coupled with the serious nature of them, may provide sufficient basis for them to take “immediate registration action” in the public interest.

Dr Aggarwal has no prior adverse findings or action in relation to his medical practice and no criminal history, the decision states.

He started working at the Lockyer Valley practice when he moved to Australia in 2006.

According to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency Dr Aggarwal graduated from medicine at the Indira Gandhi Medical College in India in 2000, and gained his AMC Certificate from the Australian Medical Council in 2010.

Originally published as Qld GP accused of choking, suffocation or strangulation in domestic relationship allowed to practise