Health Care Complaints Commission v Cleary [2021] NSWCATOD 213

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Health Care Complaints Commission v Cleary [2021] NSWCATOD 213 Hearing dates: 13 - 14 September 2021 Date of orders: 20 December 2021 Decision date: 20 December 2021 Jurisdiction: Occupational Division Before: Coleman SC ADCJ, Principal Member Dr J Fogarty, Senior Member Dr G Yeo, Senior Member Dr C Berglund, General Member Decision: (1) That, pursuant to s 149C(1)(b) of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW) ("the National Law"), the registration of the Respondent as a medical practitioner is cancelled; (2) That, pursuant to s 149C(7) of the National Law, the Respondent may not make an application for review of order 1 until the expiration of a period of five years from the date of these orders; (3) That the Respondent pay the Applicant's costs of and incidental to these proceedings as agreed or assessed on a party and party basis. Catchwords: HEALTH – Professional registration and discipline – Professional misconduct – Unsatisfactory professional conduct – Complaints established with respect to personal and financial relationships between medical practitioner and patient, standard of medical care provided to patient, inadequate records of patient care and treatment, and medications prescribed, including drugs of addiction – Findings of unsatisfactory professional conduct sufficiently serious to constitute professional misconduct – General practitioner in practice forty years with no prior breaches of professional standards – Practitioner's registration cancelled – Practitioner prevented from applying for re-registration for period of five years Legislation Cited: Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 (NSW) Health Practitioner Regulation (New South Wales) Regulation 2010 (NSW) Health Practitioner Regulation (New South Wales) Regulation 2016 (NSW) Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW) Cases Cited: Banks v Goodfellow [1870] LR 5 QB 549 Briginshaw v Briginshaw (1938) 60 CLR 336; [1938] HCA 34 Chen v Health Care Complaints Commission (2017) 95 NSWLR 334; [2017] NSWCA 186 Crickitt v Medical Council of New South Wales (No 2) [2015] NSWCATOD 115 Director-General, Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care v Lambert (2009) 74 NSWLR 523; [2009] NSWCA 102 Health Care Complaints Commission v Akhurst [2016] NSWCATOD 70 Health Care Complaints Commission v Do [2014] NSWCA 307 Health Care Complaints Commission v Huber [2017] NSWCATOD 68 Health Care Complaints Commission v Karalasingham [2007] NSWCA 267 Health Care Complaints Commission v Litchfield (1997) 41 NSWLR 630 Health Care Complaints Commission v Marino [2016] NSWCATOD 37 Health Care Complaints Commission v Schamaman [2019] NSWCATOD 82 Kakavas v Crown Melbourne Limited (2013) 250 CLR 392; [2013] HCA 25 Lee v Health Care Complaints Commission [2012] NSWCA 80 Lucire v Health Care Complaints Commission [2011] NSWCA 99 NSW Bar Association v Meakes [2006] NSWCA 340 Qasim v Health Care Complaints Commission [2018] NSWCA 282 Spicer v New South Wales Medical Board & Ors (Court of Appeal (NSW) 19 February 1981, unrep) Sudath v Health Care Complaints Commission (2012) 84 NSWLR 474; [2012] NSWCA 171 Thorne v Kennedy (2017) 263 CLR 85; [2017] HCA 49 Texts Cited: Medical Board of Australia, 'Good Medical Practice: A Code of Conduct for Doctors' (March 2014) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Health Care Complaints Commission (Applicant) Dr Michael Cleary (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: I Chatterjee (Applicant) P Dwyer (Respondent)