Health Care Complaints Commission v Goyer [2019] NSWCATOD 121

Health Care Complaints Commission v Goyer [2019] NSWCATOD 121

The practitioner’s prescribing of compounded phentermine, diethylpropion and hCG for weight loss was significantly below the standard reasonably expected of a practitioner of equivalent training or experience because it was not evidence-based, involved medications with inadequate or adverse safety and efficacy evidence, occurred through a telemedicine model without physical examination, adequate history taking, adequate risk-benefit assessment, monitoring, informed consent or adequate records, and exposed a vulnerable cohort of patients to risk. Complaint 1 alone was sufficiently serious to warrant suspension or cancellation, and the established particulars across the patient complaints,...

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
12 August 2019
Procedural Posture
Disciplinary Proceedings Against a Registered Medical Practitioner Under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (nsw) / Stage 1 Principal Judgment on Complaints of Unsatisfactory Professional Conduct and Professional Misconduct
Outcome
The Tribunal found the practitioner guilty of professional misconduct and listed the matter for directions to fix a Stage 2 hearing date.
Legal Topics
['professional Misconduct' 'unsatisfactory Professional Conduct' 'telemedicine Prescribing' 'compounded Weight Loss Medications' 'informed Consent' 'medical Record Keeping' 'failure to Physically Examine Patients' 'briginshaw Standard']
['health Practitioner Regulation' 'professional Discipline' 'medical Negligence and Standards of Care'] ['professional Misconduct' 'unsatisfactory Professional Conduct' 'telemedicine Prescribing' 'compounded Weight Loss Medications' 'informed Consent' 'medical Record Keeping' 'failure to Physically Examine Patients' 'briginshaw Standard']

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Procedural Posture

Disciplinary Proceedings Against a Registered Medical Practitioner Under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (nsw) / Stage 1 Principal Judgment on Complaints of Unsatisfactory Professional Conduct and Professional Misconduct

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether the practitioner’s admitted particulars of unsatisfactory professional conduct were of themselves so serious as to justify findings of professional misconduct.' 'Whether the records produced by the HCCC and relied on to establish breaches of the Health Practitioner Regulation (NSW) Regulation 2010 (repealed) were complete records of MWI, and whether the HCCC proved the record keeping complaints.' 'Whether the admitted and contested particulars, if established to the Briginshaw standard, constituted professional misconduct.' 'Whether the practitioner failed to provide appropriate care and treatment by prescribing compounded phentermine, diethylpropion and hCG for weight loss without adequate evidence, examination, monitoring, risk assessment or informed consent.']

Ratio Decidendi

The practitioner’s prescribing of compounded phentermine, diethylpropion and hCG for weight loss was significantly below the standard reasonably expected of a practitioner of equivalent training or experience because it was not evidence-based, involved medications with inadequate or adverse safety and efficacy evidence, occurred through a telemedicine model without physical examination, adequate history taking, adequate risk-benefit assessment, monitoring, informed consent or adequate records, and exposed a vulnerable cohort of patients to risk. Complaint 1 alone was sufficiently serious to warrant suspension or cancellation, and the established particulars across the patient complaints,...

Court Disposition

The Tribunal found the practitioner guilty of professional misconduct and listed the matter for directions to fix a Stage 2 hearing date.

Orders

  • ['The matter is listed for directions to fix a hearing date for the Stage 2 hearing on 30 August 2019.']