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Ashley Gollan sits opposite his wife, Kim, tightly clasping her hands over the dining table on their last cruise together.<\/p>\n
A woman in a colourful dress stands at the head of their table, gently swaying as she uses her powerful, throaty vocals to sing: \u201cYou\u2019re the best thing that\u2019s ever happened to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
With those lyrics, Ashley points at his wife, as tears fall down his face. He quietly says \u201cI love you\u201d over and over and kisses her hand, wiping his eyes.<\/p>\n
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Ashley and Kim Gollan remarried on their last cruise together, in 2019. Credit: Ashley Gollan<\/p>\n
\u201cSo don\u2019t go, don\u2019t go away,\u201d the woman continues singing, as the dining room erupts in applause. When the song finishes, the woman tells Ashley not to cry. \u201cShe\u2019s beautiful,\u201d she says, as Ashley nods.<\/p>\n
This song, Best Thing That Ever Happened, was played at Ashley and Kim\u2019s wedding in 1989, and became the soundtrack to their decades-long marriage based on travel, hard work and raising three children to become accomplished adults.<\/p>\n
Ashley cherishes the memories from that 2019 cruise where he arranged the private rendition before the couple remarried on the deck, as his wife battled complications from botched surgery by Dr Munjed Al Muderis three years earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a relationship that no one else could understand,\u201d Ashley says now, in tears. \u201cHad he not talked her into having two knees replaced, she would be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before Kim\u2019s death in 2022, she sued Al Muderis for medical negligence and was paid $1.2 million to settle on a \u201cno admissions basis\u201d and with a confidentiality agreement \u2013 waived by Al Muderis during his defamation case<\/a> against this masthead.<\/p>\n The Federal Court dismissed Al Muderis\u2019 defamation case last month, finding he failed a significant group of patients and that the star surgeon was cruel, callous, not honest and placed profits and fame before the safety of his patients. He has appealed the judgment.<\/p>\n Dr Munjed Al Muderis, pictured in 2014 in his surgical scrubs.Credit: Tim Bauer<\/p>\n Ashley is now calling for the National Australia Day Council to strip Al Muderis of his NSW Australian of the Year award from 2020, something he promotes widely to patients.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t pass the pub test,\u201d the grieving widower says.<\/p>\n This call is backed by retired surgeon Jan Swinnen, who was nominated for the same award that year but did not attend because he was on a humanitarian mission overseas. Swinnen has volunteered with Medecins Sans Frontieres in Congo, Pakistan, Yemen, Gaza and elsewhere. He said invasive surgeries should not be performed in poor countries without rigorous oversight.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the awards want to maintain their integrity in the public eye, they should say we made a mistake and withdraw,\u201d Swinnen said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to squash medical innovation, but innovative activities should be well regulated, with good oversight. With Al Muderis, you scratch the surface, and you find business.\u201d<\/p>\n Jan Swinnen has backed calls for Al Muderis\u2019 NSW Australian of the Year award to be stripped.Credit: Edwina Pickles<\/p>\n \u2018Red flags called for investigation\u2019<\/p>\n Al Muderis performed a double knee replacement on Kim Gollan in 2016, which was the beginning of six years of further surgeries, pain, disfigurement, infection, and ultimately, her death at the age of 58 in 2022.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n Her daughter Temperance Gollan was one of the more than 30 patients and family members who gave evidence during Al Muderis\u2019 failed defamation case against this masthead.<\/p>\n In her affidavit, Temperance described watching her mother \u201cshuffling on her bottom around the house to avoid the pain of walking\u201d and said her legs were a \u201cdeep purple-red colour\u201d that would \u201csometimes leak and ooze\u201d after the surgery.<\/p>\n Despite these symptoms, Al Muderis instructed Kim to walk on what later turned out to be broken bones, exacerbating the problems.<\/p>\n Eventually, when the fracture was found, Al Muderis organised for emergency surgery and joked about her condition: \u201cYou\u2019re lucky, you\u2019re getting two operations for the price of one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The court saw a letter from Al Muderis to Kim\u2019s GP stating he was \u201cstartled\u201d to realise the fracture \u201cwas missed\u201d and \u201cobviously there was misleading diagnosis\u201d.<\/p>\n An emotional Ashley Gollan looks over family photos from happier times. \u201cIt is very unfortunate that this happened to her and I sincerely apologised to Kim about missing this fracture,\u201d the letter stated.<\/p>\n However, under cross-examination, Al Muderis sought to minimise the letter, saying it was \u201cspeculation\u201d and denied responsibility for her problems.<\/p>\n After examining the evidence, Justice Wendy Abraham ruled Al Muderis failed Kim.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n \u201cThere were red flags that called for investigation. He failed to do so. As her surgeon, he was the person responsible,\u201d the judge found.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the fracture had been detected earlier, as it should have been, there is little doubt that Mrs Gollan would have been treated differently.<\/p>\n \u201cI am satisfied that in relation to Mrs Gollan\u2019s aftercare, Dr Al Muderis failed to conduct himself with the level of care, skill and attention that an ordinary person in the position of his patients would have expected.\u201d<\/p>\n Al Muderis\u2019 lawyers continue to attack the integrity of this masthead\u2019s journalism and said the appeal would challenge \u201call of the findings of the trial judge, including Her Honour\u2019s entire approach to the matter\u201d.<\/p>\n Grieving husband\u2019s mission<\/p>\n Ashley Gollan now lives on Russell Island, a remote community accessible by barge on the outskirts of Brisbane, where he surrounds himself with photos and memorabilia of his late wife.<\/p>\n He watched his daughter give evidence over video link, and followed the trial closely from afar. He was relieved by the resounding victory for the media companies and said Kim would be \u201ccheering from heaven\u201d.<\/p>\n His eldest daughter, Morgan, wrote on social media: \u201cThis ruling doesn\u2019t bring our mum back. But she fought hard, stood up for herself against trying circumstances and this ruling hopefully will save other patients from ever encountering this surgeon!\u201d<\/p>\n Now, Ashley wants action. He has spent the past month sending emails to the Health Care Complaints Commission and National Australia Day Council, with links to the judgment, but received little response.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease read this and let me know why his award should not be REVOKED??\u201d Gollan wrote to the National Australia Day Council.<\/p>\n Kim Gollan\u2019s leg grew a lump following a double knee replacement with Dr Al Muderis in 2016.Credit: Temperance Gollan<\/p>\n \u201cIf you read some of the judge\u2019s comments, you will surely understand why we needed to bring this to your attention. Had you been aware of his failings would you have chosen him?\u201d he wrote in another email.<\/p>\n Al Muderis was made 2020 NSW Australian of the Year by then-premier Gladys Berejiklian. \u201cI stand for help,\u201d the star surgeon said when accepting the award. \u201cHelping people, helping animals, helping trees and helping the land in order to secure our future.\u201d<\/p>\n The council\u2019s website currently promotes Al Muderis\u2019 \u201csurgical innovations and breakthroughs\u201d and describes him as a \u201ccompassionate ambassador for multiple organisations, including the Red Cross\u201d.<\/p>\n While surgeon Jan Swinnen was overseas for the ceremony, his family attended on his behalf and observed Al Muderis arrive in a luxury sportscar. Swinnen believes such awards are misconceived.<\/p>\n \u201cAl Muderis has done precious little in the manner of real humanitarian work,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are hundreds and hundreds of people out there who never get recognised because they\u2019re not into blowing their own trumpet.\u201d<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n Swinnen said there is a \u201cmedical impasse\u201d with Al Muderis\u2019 key surgery, osseointegration, because there remains no solution for the high rate of infection for any implant that protrudes through skin.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a problem we haven\u2019t solved anywhere in medicine in any field. How has Al Muderis been going to the developing world, using this technology, without having solved that basic medical problem? How did he manage to do that?\u201d<\/p>\n Swinnen said osseointegration, which involves inserting a titanium rod into an amputee\u2019s residual bone to enable a prosthetic limb to be attached, should only be performed on carefully selected patients who have exhausted non-surgical options, and they must be closely monitored for life, adding it is unacceptable to abandon patients in poor countries.<\/p>\n \u201cHis patients were able to say they were ignored. How does that get past the regulator?\u201d he said. \u201cThe impression I get is his activities are driven by commercial interests and not driven by patient interests.\u201d<\/p>\n Gollan has reviewed the council\u2019s withdrawal policy, which states that awards can be revoked or reviewed if a recipient is the subject of an adverse court finding, dishonesty, criminal conviction, or if information was not disclosed to the awards that bring the awards into disrepute. He believes Al Muderis\u2019 conduct reaches the threshold.<\/p>\n \u201cHow can a disgraced doctor not have that award removed?\u201d Ashley wrote to the awards.<\/p>\n In response, the National Australia Day Council told Gollan it was \u201cunable to discuss any individual matter relating to recipients \u2026 due to privacy and confidentiality considerations\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have taken careful note of your views,\u201d the council responded.<\/p>\n Fresh documents released to this masthead by the NSW Supreme Court last week reveal Al Muderis\u2019 colleagues actively promote his award when pressuring patients into aggressive surgery.<\/p>\n Ashley Gollan bought this clock for his wife when she could no longer tell the time. Credit: Dan Peled<\/p>\n In a medical negligence case currently before the courts, one patient alleges the star surgeon\u2019s colleague promoted Al Muderis as \u201cone of the best doctors in the world and had been recognised as Australian of the Year\u201d.<\/p>\n This masthead asked the National Australia Day Council about any concerns that Al Muderis\u2019 award is being used to recruit patients, whether Kim Gollans\u2019 lawsuit was disclosed by Al Muderis, and whether the Federal Court ruling that Al Muderis was not honest met the threshold for a review.<\/p>\n In response, the council reiterated it could not comment on individual recipients, and pointed to the withdrawal policy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have taken careful note of the information and views expressed by Mr Gollan and due processes with respect to this matter are underway in line with our policy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe NADC understands the importance of this matter to many within the community. We are unable to respond further at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n In an email, Al Muderis\u2019 lawyers accused this masthead of harassment, and did not respond to questions about whether Al Muderis was aware of any review of his award, or whether he disclosed Kim\u2019s case to the judging panel.<\/p>\n \u201cAny steps taken by any person or body based on those findings would be premature given the litigation is ongoing,\u201d his lawyers said.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n Asked if he would like to apologise to the Gollans in light of Justice Abraham\u2019s findings, Al Muderis\u2019 lawyers did not respond.<\/p>\n From Russell Island, Ashley treasures items to remember his wife \u2013 a large clock he bought for her when she became so ill she could no longer read the time, and photographs of their family home, boat and life together that ended too early.<\/p>\n He acknowledged Al Muderis had \u201cdone a lot of good\u201d in the world, but said there needed to be accountability for the people he failed.<\/p>\n \u201cI still wear my wedding ring every day,\u201d he said. \u201cThe hospitals said he can\u2019t make mistakes. They\u2019re all backing him because of the coin. Someone needs to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlotte Grieve\u2019s book Duty To Warn will be available in February. Pre-order here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Dr](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/8b1e0ad3eeb889ae3160b07e2e24ca0d83d3d7c4.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2c103b58ab2e673956a0d3082bd79ac12237717f.jpeg\")
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\nCredit: Dan Peled<\/p>\n![\"Kim](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/9124da0f06e71d91053aa74b772457a18dfa5c26.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Ashley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/17701c454431915cbe6dd8561db71de9c0346943.jpeg\")
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