A Sydney surgeon struck off the medical register after he used a patient “as a prop for a joke” has returned to practice under a different name.
Colorectal surgeon Gary Donald McKay legally changed his name to Barry John McCabe this year, and the public register of practitioners included no record of the previous findings against him until the Herald asked questions.
Colorectal surgeon Gary Donald McKay legally changed his name to Barry John McCabe.Credit: Internet
It comes as the regulator, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, announced several changes on Monday designed to improve transparency and patient safety in other cases, including listing doctors’ alternative names on the register.
McCabe, at that time known as McKay, was suspended for three months in 2022 for what the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal called a “serious lapse of judgment” during a colonoscopy he performed at the Mater Hospital on Sydney’s north shore in 2018.
Having discovered a mass in the patient’s rectum which he suspected to be a rare tumour, McKay invited the attending anaesthetist to “put your gloves on and have a feel ... it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.
The surgeon was suspended for three months in 2022. Credit: Internet
A nurse then reported seeing the anaesthetist don a pair of gloves and “put one or two fingers into [the patient’s] rectum”, and saw McKay photograph this activity on his mobile phone. According to the judgment, McKay then said: “I’m taking these photos to send to all your anaesthetist mates so they can see you with your fingers stuck up the patient’s arse.”
McKay admitted to misleading both the hospital and the patient in a later phone call by denying he took photographs of the examination and claiming he had only “pretended” to take them.
The decision was handed down in August 2022. Records show McKay registered the business name Specialist Surgeons Sydney in November 2022, and changed his ABN to his new name in April this year.
AHPRA confirmed it registered McKay’s change of name to McCabe on April 30 after he changed his legal name. It said any practising restrictions or previous tribunal findings against him should have been displayed on his registration.
“These would both transfer to the new name. On review of Dr McCabe’s registration details, his previous tribunal matter was not listed. This has now been addressed,” AHPRA said. It did not explain why it had not been listed earlier.
The Herald is not suggesting McCabe changed his name due to the previous disciplinary findings against him, and sources close to McCabe, who did not want to be identified, indicated there were other factors involved.
The Herald reached McCabe at his office, the St Leonards-based Specialist Surgeons Sydney, but he twice hung up when informed who was calling and why. He did not respond to emailed questions.
On Monday, AHPRA announced changes that enable it and the 15 national medical regulatory boards to issue interim prohibition orders against unregistered health workers to prevent them treating patients in situations where the person may pose a serious risk to others.
AHPRA chief executive Martin Fletcher said the new powers would “only be used in exceptional circumstances, when it is deemed there is a very real risk to the health and safety of individual patients or the wider community.”
Some practitioners use a traditional, Anglicised or shortened name that differs from their legal name. Under the changes announced on Monday, both names may appear on the public register.
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