Judge puts GP ‘sickies’ on notice

Obliging GPs have been put on notice for writing continuing sick notes after a Gold Coast doctor was ordered to explain why an accused visa overstayer was too sick to attend court for 14 months.

Dr Jennifer Du wrote five medical certificates for Yanan Zhu from July 30, 2021, confirming she was medically unfit for court, forcing repeated adjournments of her visa case.

Obliging GPs have been put on notice for writing continuing sick notes after a Gold Coast doctor was ordered to explain to a judge why an accused visa overstayer was too sick from Covid to attend court for 14 months.

Jennifer Du, of the Christine Avenue Bulk Billing Medical Centre in Varsity Lakes, said the patient had assured her she was a lawyer who would be unable to function at the required “high ­intellectual level”.

The woman, Yanan Zhu, was appealing against her deportation after being refused a visa to work in Australia as a cafe or restaurant manager.

Dr Du wrote five medical certificates for Ms Zhu from July 30, 2021, confirming she was medically unfit for court, forcing repeated adjournments of the case.

Federal Circuit and Family Court judge Greg Egan called enough after receiving updated advice on September 26 that Ms Zhu would be out of action for another six months. He ordered Dr Du to appear before him or by videolink on Tuesday.

Electing to front up in person, Dr Du admitted she had been misled by Ms Zhu, whom she had seen about 20 times for appointments over the past 15 months.

Judge Egan in written findings said the GP had been unable to discover why the alleged Covid symptoms had persisted.

He wrote: “Dr Du said in her evidence that (Ms Zhu) … had only been given medical cer­tificates which stated that she was unfit to appear in court on the basis that (she) … had represented to her that her symptoms were ongoing, and that as a ­lawyer who was required to function at a high intellectual level, it was inappropriate for her to carry out the duties of a lawyer in court when suffering such symptoms.

“Dr Du stated that at the time of her having first been consulted … the applicant had provided her with a business card which on its face represented that the first applicant was a lawyer.”

Judge Egan said Dr Du now “drew a distinction” between the ability of Ms Zhu to appear in court as a litigant with the “level of alleged symptoms complained of” as opposed to performing the duties of a lawyer.

He ruled that Dr Du had “unwittingly” been used by Ms Zhu to adjourn hearings, circumventing the administration of justice.

He ordered Ms Zhu to attend in person or by video link a scheduled hearing of the case on Wednesday.

Ms Zhu, however, elected to discontinue the action.

Judge Egan said: “The court will consider whether it is appropriate to send a copy of these ­reasons to the president of the Queensland Law Society for consideration.”