Sameer Tatavarty Bharatam: Cocaine supplying cardiologist nabbed in police sting

An esteemed cardiologist who claimed he was using cocaine weekly while trying to fit in with his friends on the Gold Coast has been sentenced.

An esteemed cardiologist was using cocaine weekly while desperately trying to fit in with his new friends on the Gold Coast, a court has heard.

Sameer Tatavarty Bharatam, 41, pleaded guilty at the Southport District Court on Wednesday to five counts of supply dangerous drugs and one count of possessing anything used in the commission of a crime.

The court heard Tatavarty Bharatam was given a clip seal bag of cocaine from an unknown man while at a Broadbeach home on May 7, 2024.

Sameer Tatavarty Bharatam pleaded guilty to five counts of supply dangerous drugs and one count of possessing anything used in the commission of a crime. Picture: supplied/Instagram

Later that night at the property, Tatavarty Bharatam was detected by police surveillance, cutting up cocaine into lines of a plate before providing the plate to two people.

The court heard Tatavarty Bharatam went back to the Broadbeach home on June 21, 2024 after splashing out more than $2000 on two balls of cocaine.

Tatavarty Bharatam told the home’s occupant he wanted him to try cocaine that was “proper good” with the pair each later snorting the drugs.

A police search of Tatavarty Bharatam’s Clear Island Waters home found a mobile phone containing messages where he agreed to give a woman two ounces of what he described as “medicinal grade” cannabis for $1000.

The Gold Coast cardiologist was part of the slew of prominent Gold Coast figures nabbed by the police sting including restaurateurs Steven Raymond Adams and his wife Autumn Victoria Adams who both faced possession charges.

Ms Adams was fined and handed a good behaviour bond while her husband, who was also facing a supply charge, was given community service.

Tatavarty Bharatam leaving Southport District Court on November 12, 2025, following his sentence. Picture: Alex Treacy

Tatavarty Bharatam’s partner Amelia Elizabeth Scott who left her teaching career to work at her boyfriend’s Bundall based Zenith Cardiology clinic, was also embroiled in the police operation and was sentenced earlier this year to a recognisance bond over drug possession and possessing a phone used in the commission of a crime.

Defence barrister Patrick Mccafferty KC, instructed by Osborne Butler Lawyers, told the court Tatavarty Bharatam was a highly intelligent and talented doctor who in a difficult period of his life associated with a negative peer group who exposed him to drugs following his relocation to the Gold Coast in 2020.

A psychologist’s letter to the court said Tatavarty Bharatam had a vulnerability related to fitting into a social group which contributed to him using cocaine.

The court heard Tatavarty Bharatam, who once worked at Gold Coast University Hospital and Gold Coast Private, had admitted to using cocaine weekly but had stopped illicit substance use since being charged and had taken active steps to distance himself from his old social circle, completed an ethical decision making course and had attended psychologist appointments.

Letters to the court from a number of medical professionals spoke of Tatavarty Bharatam’s good character and charitable acts.

Tatavarty Bharatam, who been suspended from practising medicine in Australia since October 2024, is due to front the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency National Board within seven days.

Tatavarty Bharatam was sentenced to 220 hours of community service to complete within 12 months

Convictions were recorded.

The court heard the Southport Magistrates Court separately fined and disqualified Tatavarty Bharatam from holding a licence for one month after he was found driving with cocaine in his system just six days after using cocaine at the Broadbeach home.

The Rockhampton Magistrates Court fined him $5000 this year over supplying a number of prescription drugs and cannabis gummies dangerous drugs in July 2024.

Originally published as Sameer Tatavarty Bharatam: Cocaine supplying cardiologist nabbed in police sting