A doctor who had practised in Australia since 1986 has had his registration cancelled by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, for failing to display the judgement expected of a practitioner of his experience. The practitioner was a fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians since 1997, specialising in gastroenterology, and a fellow of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine since 1998. In October 2013, the Director of the Local Health District made a formal notification in relation to matters of concern involving the practitioner, which had taken place at a local hospital. The first concern related to his state of presentation as a duty doctor, when he was reported to have been unsteady on his feet, with slurred speech, and to have typed up clinical notes that made no sense. He was also discovered to have been obtaining Panadeine from the hospital dispensary under his wife’s name when she had not attended for assessment, and had also been requesting Panadeine Forte for himself.
