Health Care Complaints Commission v Howe [2010] NSWMT 12

New South Wales Medical Tribunal

CITATION : Health Care Complaints Commission v Howe [2010] NSWMT 12 TRIBUNAL: Medical Tribunal PARTIES : Health Care Complaints Commission (Complainant) Dr Gordon Howe (Respondent) FILE NUMBER(S) : 40026 of 2009 CORAM: Staff J - Hely, Dr J - Christie, Dr A - Smith, Mr RJ CATCHWORDS: PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT - personal and intimate relationship with patient - practitioner inappropriately prescribed Ritalin without authority to prescribe - professional misconduct requiring a severe reprimand and the imposition of conditions on his registration to minimise the risk of recurrence Civil Procedure Act 2005 LEGISLATION CITED: Health Care Complaints Act 1993 Medical Practice Act 1992 Briginshaw v Briginshaw & Anor (1938) 60 CLR 336; Childs v Walton [1990] NSWCA 41; Health Care Complaints Commission v Karalasingham [2007] NSWCA 267; CASES CITED: Health Care Complaints Commission v Litchfield (1997) 41 NSWLR 630; NSW Medical Board v Dinakar [2009] NSWMT 8; Prakash v Health Care Complaints Commission [2006] NSWCA 153; Re Dr Parajuli [2010] NSWMT 3; Saville v Health Care Complaints Commission & Anor [2006] NSWCA 298 DATES OF HEARING: 6, 7 September 2010 DATE OF JUDGMENT: 30 September 2010 Ms G Furness of counsel (Complainant) LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES: Health Care Complaints Commission Ms A Moen of counsel (Respondent) ORDERS: 1. Dr Howe be severely reprimanded for entering into a personal and intimate relationship with a patient from 23 March 2006 to late November 2006; 2. Dr Howe be severely reprimanded for providing Patient A with six bottles of Ritalin for use by her daughter, in circumstances where he did not hold an authority to prescribe Ritalin to the patient's daughter and where another medical practitioner held such an authority and the patient's daughter was a child; 3. Dr Howe is to pay the HCCC's costs of these proceedings, on the ordinary basis as defined in Sch 3 of the Civil Procedure Act 2005; 4. The conditions set out in the Annexure to this Determination are to be placed on Dr Howe's registration. The Medical Council of New South Wales is the appropriate review body for the purpose of any review of these conditions. It may remove or vary the conditions at such time and in such a way as it considers appropriate; Pursuant to cl 6 of Sch 2 of the Medical Practice Act 1992, the Tribunal has made a non publication order in respect of the name of the patient referred to in the proceedings.