First Thursday Club: Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll - a medical investigation

The recent Four Corners episode, ‘Do No Harm’, investigated a decade worth of healthcare complaints and uncovered what it described as a ‘complex and unwieldy system struggling to protect the public from sexual predators’. Will this be the next focus for AHRPA and various statutory bodies in each state? Judging by the response to an earlier Four Corners episode ‘Cosmetic Cowboys’, the answer is – quite possibly.

The six month investigation undertaken by Four Corners into the medical complaints handling process found hundreds of medical practitioners had been sanctioned by tribunals for sexual misconduct involving patients since 2010, and that many of them are still registered to work.

We will look at these and other cases where medical practitioners have been sanctioned for drug use, the impaired registrants/health stream and the complex issues surrounding these types of complaints and how they sometimes overlap with sexual misconduct.

Join us for our next edition of BN's First Thursday Club, where BN’s Kate Hickey, Larisa Nguyen and Isabelle Yates will consider and discuss:

• Who is AHPRA and the various statutory bodies in each state?
• How do they investigate these complaints and what kinds of sanctions are imposed?
• Recent cases
• Ethical dilemmas and legal exposures
• Nurses and ‘Only Fans’
• What can we expect going forward do we expect more complaints in this area? Do we expect a tougher approach from the regulatory authorities?
• How can we best assist medical practitioners with these types of complaints.