It was alleged that between January 2018 to March 2019, the psychiatrist authored a blog on his practice website which discussed bizarre beliefs about global conspiracy theories and other disturbing matters which had the potential to expose his patients to real risk of harm when accessing the practice website for information or to make an appointment. It was also alleged that the psychiatrist had engaged in inappropriate and abusive language in his interactions with the Medical Council of NSW, suffered from an impairment likely to affect his capacity to practice, and was not competent to practice the profession of medicine.
The psychiatrist did not attend the hearing.
The Tribunal found that the psychiatrist’s conduct amounted to professional misconduct and unsatisfactory professional conduct. The Tribunal also found that the psychiatrist had an impairment, based on an independent psychiatric assessment that he had impaired reality testing and that he had a psychiatric impairment, disability, condition or disorder.
The Tribunal cancelled the psychiatrist’s registration and imposed a non-review period of 12 months.
The full decision in Health Care Complaints Commission v McGregor [2020] NSWCATOD 13 can be read here.
