Health Care Complaints Commission v Sinnathurai [2021] NSWCATOD 102

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Health Care Complaints Commission v Sinnathurai [2021] NSWCATOD 102 Hearing dates: 21 – 23 June 2021 Date of orders: 29 July 2021 Decision date: 29 July 2021 Jurisdiction: Occupational Division Before: Hennessy ADCJ, Deputy President Dr S Cowap, Senior Member Dr C Newberry, Senior Member C Berglund, General Member Decision: Dr Sinnathurai is guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct in the respects identified in the reasons for decision. Catchwords: HEALTH — professional registration and discipline — professional misconduct — where general practitioner conducted breast and abdominal examinations when not clinically necessary, without informed consent and in an inappropriate manner — breaches of sexual boundaries — whether conduct improper and unethical — whether conduct amounts to professional misconduct Legislation Cited: Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW) Health Practitioner Regulation (New South Wales) Regulation 2016 (NSW) Cases Cited: Briginshaw v Briginshaw (1938) 60 CLR 336' [1938] HCA 34 Bronze Wing International Pty Ltd v SafeWork NSW [2017] NSWCA 41 Health Care Complaints Commission v Chen [2017] NSWCA 186 Health Care Complaints Commission v Dr Denise Perroux [2011] NSWDC 99 Health Care Complaints Commission v Dr Maendel [2013] NSWMT 3 Health Care Complaints Commission v Goyer [2019] NSWCATOD 121 Health Care Complaints Commission v Grygiel (Stay application) [2019] NSWCATOD 123 Health Care Complaints Commission v Litchfield (1997) 41 NSWLR 630; [1997] NSWCA 264 Health Care Complaints Commission v Sare [2018] NSWCATOD 190 Pillai v Messiter (No 2) (1989) 16 NSWLR 197 Texts Cited: Medical Board of Australia, "Guidelines – Sexual boundaries in the doctor-patient relationship" (December 2018) Medical Board of Australia, "Good medical practice: a code of conduct for doctors in Australia" (March 2014) Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, "Guidelines for preventive activities in general practice" (9th ed, 2016) Family Planning NSW, "Fact Sheet: The combined Pill and cancer" (June 2012) Oxford Medical Education, "Breast Examination" (26 April 2017) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Health Care Complaints Commission (Applicant) Tharumalingam Sinnathurai (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: A Petrie (Applicant) P Dwyer (Respondent)