Health Care Complaints Commission v Bechara [2020] NSWCATOD 140

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Health Care Complaints Commission v Bechara [2020] NSWCATOD 140 Hearing dates: 7 July 2020; submissions closed 2 October 2020 Date of orders: 02 December 2020 Decision date: 02 December 2020 Jurisdiction: Occupational Division Before: L Pearson, Principal Member C Anderson, Senior Member A Currie, Senior Member J Barker, General Member Decision: (1) The Respondent is guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct; (2) Pursuant to a finding of professional misconduct, the Respondent's registration as an enrolled nurse is cancelled under s 149C(1)(b) of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law from the date of this decision; (3) Pursuant to s 149C(7) of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, the Respondent is not to make any application for review of the cancellation of her registration for a period of 18 months from the date of this decision; (4) Pursuant to s 149C(5) of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, the Respondent is prohibited from providing health services as defined in s 4 of the Health Care Complaints Act 1993, including offering cosmetic or other forms of injectable treatments, other than as authorised by and in accordance with the requirements of her registration as a student nurse undertaking the Bachelor of Nursing course, for the period until she obtains a reinstatement order under Div 8 of Part of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW) or its equivalent, or is re-registered as a nurse; and (5) The Respondent is to pay the costs of the Health Care Complaints Commission, as agreed or assessed. Catchwords: PROFESSIONS AND TRADES – health practitioner – enrolled nurse – cosmetic treatments – breach of condition requiring supervision – provisions of false and misleading information to regulatory authorities – practising while suspended - whether improper or unethical conduct – whether professional misconduct – protective orders Legislation Cited: Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW) Cases Cited: Bechara v Nursing and Midwifery Council of New South Wales [2018] NSWCATOD 181 Chen v Health Care Complaints Commission [2017] NSWCA 186 Health Care Complaints Commission v Achurch [2019] NSWCATOD 20 Health Care Complaints Commission v Brush [2015] NSWCATOD 120 Health Care Complaints Commission v Choi [2017] NSWCATOD 82 Health Care Complaints Commission v Do [2014] NSWCA 307 Health Care Complaints Commission v Hanna [2018] NSWCATOD 113 Health Care Complaints Commission v Shrimpton [2019] NSWCATOD 25 Lee v Health Care Complaints Commission [2012] NSWCA 80 Qasim v Health Care Complaints Commission [2015] NSWCA 282 Texts Cited: Nil Category: Principal judgment Parties: Health Care Complaints Commission (Applicant) Tanya Bechara (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: D New (Applicant) M Klooster (Respondent)