Surgeon loses patients’ money after encouraging them to invest in his business
Dr Tobias Pincock has been barred from practising medicine for 18 months after encouraging two patients to invest over $500,000 into a trust he majority-owned.
Sydney surgeon Tobias Pincock has been 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.
The Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) alleged that in 2015 Dr Pincock encouraged one of his patients, known as Patient A for legal reasons, to invest $335,000 in the Australian Allergy Centre trust while continuing the doctor-patient relationship.
Patient A 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 $5000,000 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”.
At the tribunal Dr Pincock said that he had put several million dollars into the trust and that he and his business partner had come up with a rough valuation for the business of $10m at the beginning of November 2015, just before Patient A invested the funds.
However, the tribunal found that: “Dr Pincock did not obtain a professional valuation and his own valuation was not based on any principles he could articulate. He did not tell Patient A the value he attributed to the business except indirectly by saying that her share would be $5,000,000 in 5 years. Dr Pincock had no reasonable basis to represent that any specific value could be achieved in 5 years’ time if the business was sold.”
Dr Pincock denies this and says he did not encourage Patient A to invest or say that her return would be $5,000,000 in five years.
A second patient, Patient B, invested $200,000 in the trust. Shortly afterwards in early 2018 Dr Pincock was declared bankrupt, allegedly almost $7m in debt, and his Bella Vista clinic was placed into liquidation.
His trustee in bankruptcy, David Solomons from De Vries Tayeh, told The Daily Telegraph in 2018 it was “reasonable to assume” Dr Pincock’s ex-wife believed he went into bankruptcy to “thwart” and “frustrate” his obligation to pay up to $20,000 a month to her and their children.
But Mr Solomons said: “The main cause of his bankruptcy was due to him having excessive finance commitments and a declining income.”
In mid 2024, almost 10 years after the incident, the Tribunal found the HCCC’s complaint proven and that Dr Pincock “was not honest or forthright” in his dealings with Patient A and Patient B, and engaged in conduct “not in their best interests.”
On December 19, 2024 the Tribunal disqualified Dr Pincock from being registered as a medical practitioner for 18 months.
Dr Pincock’s matter took so long to be processed because even though the HCCC lodged the complaint in July 2018 they did not proceed with prosecution until the criminal charges against Dr Pincock were withdrawn in August 2022. This is standard practice for the HCCC.
The HCCC said that on reaching the end of the disqualification period in mid-2026 Dr Pincock would need to make an application to NCAT in order to reinstate his registration.
This was not 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 2018 Dr Pincock was also charged with the alleged assault of a 10-year-old boy and handed an apprehended violence order to stay away from the child.
Dr Pincock declined to respond to The Australian’s request for comment but it is understood he denies all allegations.
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