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<\/p>\nThe Medical Board of Australia is appealing a tribunal decision that allowed a Ballarat doctor accused of digitally penetrating a female patient to continue working at the same clinic, pending a final decision.<\/p>\n
Warning: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.<\/p>\n
Dr Dileepa Jayaweera was initially banned from practising at Carn-Brae Clinic in Winter Valley after a patient made allegations about his conduct when she asked him to remove a skin tag during a consultation a year ago.<\/p>\n
The patient alleged the doctor exposed and examined her breasts, including “cupping and wiggling” them.<\/p>\n
Sexual assault\u00a0support lines:<\/p>\n
Then, lying on the examination table in her underwear, the patient alleged the doctor asked whether she had had a pap smear and \u2014 when she told him she hadn’t \u2014 alleged he placed his hand inside her underwear and digitally penetrated her twice without consent.<\/p>\n
Police interviewed Dr Jayaweera, who denied the allegations, and did not press charges.<\/p>\n
However, the patient complained to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), prompting the medical watchdog to impose conditions on the doctor’s medical licence until a final order is made by a tribunal.<\/p>\n
The conditions, imposed last May, meant he could no longer practice at Carn-Brae Medical Clinic.<\/p>\n
They also included a prohibition on treating female patients, including telehealth patients and those accompanied by a woman, and a requirement that he work at an approved workplace.<\/p>\n
The board did not grant Dr Jayaweera approval to work at the clinic in Winter Valley, arguing there was a perceived conflict of interest for any employee at the practice to supervise him after the clinic’s owner told the board he was “99 per cent certain of Dr Jayaweera’s innocence”.<\/p>\n
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Dr Dileepa Jayaweera took the medical board to VCAT last year. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
The owner also said they intended to pursue legal action against the patient, the Medical Board of Australia \u2014 which registers medical practitioners and develops standards \u2014 and AHPRA, which regulates them.<\/p>\n
Dr Jayaweera took the medical board to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last year, applying for a stay on the conditions until a tribunal review of the medical board’s decision was complete.<\/p>\n
The doctor argued that he had been given a “de facto” suspension of his registration, because after contacting 100 other clinics to ask if he could work there under the imposed conditions, only one clinic 90 minutes away had agreed.<\/p>\n
Do you know more about this story?<\/p>\n
Contact Antonia O’Flaherty on oflaherty.antonia@abc.net.au or antoniaoflaherty@protonmail.com.<\/p>\n