The Medical Board of Australia has released its latest list of disciplinary actions in the first half of this year, with a former WA doctor struck off for failing to separate work from pleasure.
The board referred Dr Benjamin Saunders to the State Administrative Tribunal, which found he had not complied with the code of conduct for doctors in Australia, overstepped sexual boundaries in the doctor-patient relationship, and behaved in a way that constituted professional misconduct.
Over a period of about eight months, Dr Saunders sent sexually explicit text messages, voicemails and photos to a female patient who visited Dr Saunders five times between 26 October 2017 and 13 August 2018, and like many workplace misdemeanours, the first incident occurred following an end of year Christmas party.
That night in December 2017, the patient sent the doctor a text message with a beer and the comment ‘Only way out of this,’ to which he responded, ‘No comment. Such a f…ing turn-on.’
Several days later, Dr Saunders left a sexually explicit voice message in which he expressed his desire to engage in sexual intercourse and other sexual acts with her, followed by an explicit picture and further sexual messages in January 2018.
This continued into February, with requests for more explicit content.
On 24 August 2018, the practice’s principal doctor and Dr Saunders’ supervisor informed him those complaints had been made against him by a patient, and by 27 August, following additional complaints, that the termination of his contract with the practice was effective immediately – with a mandatory notification sent to Ahpra on 3 September.
Two or three days later, Dr Saunders further complicated matters by sending a series of text messages to the patient’s partner:
“Where is a reason that I am in Perth. There is only one winner. Ask her what the truth is. She WILL retract her accusation. We will go to court with the images she sent. With no reply from me. And then you will see the truth,” he texted.
“I think she is the one that needs questioning. Not me. When the photos of her come out. She’s f…ed. Sleep tight. She knows what I mean. She’s Not leaving. She won’t be laughing much longer. Nor will the hospital.”
Around the same time, Dr Saunders was exchanging thousands of personal calls and text messages with another female patient. When this became known during Ahpra’s investigation, he tried, unsuccessfully, to coerce her into retracting her statement.
The second patient and Dr Saunders were in near-constant communication between 31 December 2017 and 3 October 2018 and exchanged thousands of messages.
The third patient was a woman who Dr Saunders started a romantic relationship with shortly after she was no longer his patient. The tribunal found that even though the former patient was the person who initiated the relationship, Dr Saunders’ behaviour was in breach of both the code of conduct and guidelines because of the brief period between when the treating relationship ended, and the personal relationship began.
Dr Saunders and the third patient were believed to still be in a relationship.
Since January 2021, Dr Saunders has been practicing medicine (only seeing male patients) at Arafura Medical Clinic in Palmerston, NT, without incident.
AHPRA noted that the investigation and proceedings have not only had a deleterious impact on Dr Saunders mental health but may also result in his need to depart Australia – as the cancellation of his right to practice will lead to the cancellation of his visa.
The final decision noted that in addition to his registration being cancelled:
- The respondent was further disqualified from applying for registration for a period of 12 months from the date this order, pursuant to section 196(4)(a) of the National Law.
- The respondent must pay a contribution towards the applicant’s costs of the proceedings, or $45,000.