14 NEWS
14 NEWS
16 MAY 2025 ausdoc. com. au
Crackdown puts doctors at risk
Dr Louise Stone.
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Carmel Sparke SOME doctors will be at high risk of suicide under new AHPRA rules that will permanently list tribunal findings related to sexual misconduct on their medical registration, a leading GP has warned.
Dr Louise Stone has written extensively about sexual abuse of doctors by doctors. But she says she has mixed feelings about the reforms, which are designed
STARTS WORKING IN ~ 30 MINS 6, 7 † to ensure that patients are aware of their doctor’ s complaint history when it comes to sexual misconduct.
“ The idea being suggested here is that sexual misconduct cannot be remediated,” Dr Stone, a clinical associate professor at Canberra’ s Australian National University, wrote in her LinkedIn post.
“ This is true, for some. [ But ] our evidence, internationally, is that there are
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at least two groups.
“ One is the predators, who seek a career in medicine( or law or teaching or politics or the military) because it gives them the power to abuse. These predators are rarely remediated.”
She said the other group were often people who had been“ mistaken and misguided” and who“ misunderstood relationships”.
“ Perhaps there is mental
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References: 1. CELEBREX RELIEF ® Product Information. 2. Ekman EF et al. Am J Orthop 2002; 31( 8): 445-451. 3. Petri M et al. J Rheumatol 2004; 31( 8): 1614-1620. 4. Ralha LV et al. Revista Brasileira de Medicina 2008; 65( 11): 378-387. 5. Bertin P et al. J Int Med Res 2003; 31( 2): 102-112. 6. Cheung R et al. Clin Ther 2007; 29:2498 – 2510. 7. CELEBREX ® Product Information 12 / 10 / 2021. 8. Chan FKL et al. Lancet 2010; 376:173-179. 9. Tai FWD, McAlindon ME. Clin Med( Lond) 2021; 21( 2): 131-134. 10. Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists & the Faculty of Pain Medicine. PS41( G). Position statement on acute pain management 2023. Available at: https:// www. anzca. edu. au / safety-advocacy / standards-of-practice / policies,-statements,-and-guidelines; Accessed October 2024. 11. Bhala N et al. Lancet 2013; 382:769-79( incl. Suppl Appendix).
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CELEBREX RELIEF ® is a Viatris company trademark. Copyright © 2024 Viatris Inc. All rights reserved. Viatris Pty Ltd. 30 – 34 Hickson Rd Millers Point, NSW 2000, Australia. ABN: 29 601 608 771. Call: 1800 274 276. AU-CELE-2024-00041. Date of preparation: December 2024. illness involved, or perhaps a lifetime of lonely service has broken them,” Dr Stone added.
“ But either way, they deserve help, not public shaming. Public shaming creates a high risk of suicide.”
As part of the new crackdown, health practitioners registered under AHPRA will not be allowed to enter into non-disclosure agreements with patients that
prevent complaints from being made to health regulators.
It will also become an offence to threaten, intimidate, dismiss or refuse to employ anyone who has made a notification.
AHPRA’ s acting CEO, Kym Ayscough, said it was a milestone:“ Everybody has the right to expect their practitioner to be safe and fit to practise, and these reforms strengthen that right.” Under the reforms, the medical register will list professional misconduct findings, not criminal convictions.
But Dr Stone, lead editor of a book due to be published this year called Sexual Harassment of Doctors by Doctors, said there were fundamental issues of fairness at stake given the lower standard of proof used in tribunal cases.
“ Should we, if we are removing a doctor’ s career, at least meet the criteria of‘ beyond reasonable doubt’ rather than‘ on the balance of probabilities’?”
Responding to Dr Stone’ s post, Professor Max Kamien described a case involving allegations of sexual harassment against an elderly doctor some years earlier.
After a four-day hearing, he said the doctor was found not guilty.
Professor Kamien, senior honorary research fellow at the University of WA, said the complainant, who had“ led a colourful and drug-fuelled life”, attended the tribunal in a hospital bed with her right leg in red-and-blue plaster.“ After the hearing and judgement, the tribunal registrar and I retired to a nearby coffee shop,” Professor Kamien recalled.
“ The complainant entered carrying her two-piece plaster under one arm.
“ She saw us and with a big smile said:‘ Ah ducky, you win some and you lose some.’”
AHPRA said it expected the changes to be implemented progressively over the coming year to allow for state and territory tribunals to establish necessary processes.
“ We are currently in the process of considering the circumstances of each practitioner on the register who has had a professional misconduct finding to determine if it involved sexual misconduct,” a spokesperson said.
“ It is only once we have done that, we will know how many matters are affected.
“ Information will continue to be published on the register as it is represented now, including currently effective restrictions and links to tribunal decisions.”
If this news story has raised issues for you, or you are concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. You can also contact your local Doctors’ Health Advisory Service.