Latest news with #MedicalBoardofAustralia
Epoch Times
29-07-2025
- Health
- Epoch Times
Christian Doctor Censured for Online Posts on Abortion, Gender, and Vaccines
A Melbourne-based Christian doctor has been found engaging in 'professional misconduct' after sharing and writing—sometimes crudely—online content reflective of conservative beliefs. Dr. Jareth Kok was reported to the Victorian Medical Board via a 'confidential notification,' where the Medical Board of Australia later filed the action against him at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).
Perth Now
28-07-2025
- Health
- Perth Now
'Butchers': GP ban upheld after abortion, race rants
A doctor who posted dozens of anti-abortion rants online and described medics who carry out the procedures as butchers will remain banned from practice. Jereth Kok was suspended in 2019 for professional misconduct in relation to the online posts that also described abortion doctors as "contract killers", equated abortion to murder and described being transgender as a mental health issue. He is also accused of posting racist comments online about Chinese people and Islam. The Victorian Civil and Administration Tribunal found Dr Kok engaged in professional misconduct, between May 20, 2010 and October 15, 2021, when he posted and published on social media and internet forums. He maintains that many posts were satirical or taken out of context. The tribunal last week upheld his ban. It found that Dr Kok's posts were "disrespectful" and "not sufficiently balanced", despite acknowledging that many were political or religious in nature and unrelated to his clinical practice. In one of his many posts, the general practitioner said "the Royal Women's Hospital happens to be Melbourne's premier publicly funded baby-killing facility". The Medical Board of Australia said the comment denigrated, demeaned and slurred medical practitioners at the hospital who provided abortion treatment to patients. While Dr Kok accepted that his commentary was "discourteous" to people who worked at the hospital, he submitted he was expressing his views and beliefs about abortion in a discussion on a Christian website. In another comment to an online story about doctors performing abortions, Dr Kok suggested the author should replace the word doctor with "butcher". He later told the tribunal that he would avoid this type of language in future, but said he had strong views about abortion being immoral as a Christian and believed he was required to speak out about the issue. He also referred to treatment of gender dysphoria as "medical butchery". Other posts were found to have denigrated, demeaned and slurred medical practitioners who recognise and treat gender dysphoria, perform abortion treatment and those who followed COVID-19 public health orders. He was also found to have expressed sentiments of violence and made derogatory statements towards racial and religious groups, LGBTQI+ people and legitimised anti-vaccination during the COVID pandemic. Political party Family First on Monday slammed the decision - calling it a "gross injustice and chilling attack on freedom of speech". Family First's national director Lyle Shelton said the party will fight to repeal similar anti-free speech laws in all states starting with fielding candidates at upcoming elections in South Australia, Victoria and NSW. "Dr Kok has harmed no patient. His only 'crime' was to express his views online — many of them satirical or Christian in nature — and for that, he has been punished with the loss of his medical career," Mr Shelton said. "We will not sit by while the state tramples conscience, truth and freedom. "Dr Kok's case must be the turning point." The matter is expected to return to the tribunal for an administrative mention in September. Lifeline 13 11 14 Fullstop Australia 1800 385 578 beyondblue 1300 22 4636
Perth Now
23-04-2025
- Health
- Perth Now
Foreign surgeon numbers hamstrung by higher standards
Qualifying to be a surgeon takes years of study and hard work, but that journey is even longer for desperately needed overseas-trained surgeons. Between January 2021 and July 2024, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons assessed specialist international medical graduates against standards that varied from the requirements of Medical Board of Australia - the national body which licenses medical practitioners to work. The college had measured international specialists at the level of a surgeon with five years of specialist practice, instead of a new fellow who had completed the college's advanced exams. That impacted more than 200 international surgeons who patients could have benefited from in the workforce. They are being a given second chance to reapply. Medical Board of Australia chair Susan O'Dwyer said patient safety and medical workforce supply were both essential. "Patients need to feel safe seeing any medical specialist in Australia and be able to get an appointment when they need one. The board is working really hard to make this happen," Dr O'Dwyer said. A major review by senior public servant Robyn Kruk examining the nation's healthcare workforce shortage noted more reforms were needed to fast-track international medical graduates practising in Australian hospitals and clinics. In 2024, the board opened a new expedited specialist pathway for a small number of international medical graduates including GPs, anaesthetists, gynaecologists, obstetricians and psychiatrists to apply directly to it, bypassing their relevant colleges' assessment process. However, that pathway has not expanded to include surgeons. Health Minister Mark Butler said record numbers of internationally qualified doctors had been easing the burden with 5431 registered to practise in 2024. In recent months, nurses, psychiatrists and doctors in NSW have gone on strike to protest against work conditions, maintaining that pay is low, workloads are unmanageable with an influx of patients and retention rates are abysmal.
West Australian
21-04-2025
- Health
- West Australian
Kenneth Lee: Perth doctor behind attack on ex fined for prescribing himself testosterone injections
A Perth doctor previously banned from treating women after assaulting his ex-girlfriend has now been fined $10,000 for prescribing himself testosterone injections. Dr Kenneth Lee was allowed to keep practising despite initially being suspended by the Medical Board of Australia in September 2020 over the allegations. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to one count of common assault and was fined $5000. His suspension had been lifted before he faced Perth Magistrate's Court however, conditions were attached to his reinstatement. One of the conditions was that he could only treat men. Another required him to advise patients of his criminal history ahead of their appointment and a third condition prohibited him from self-prescribing medicines. It was the second time he'd been banned from self-prescribing — the first being in 2018 after Dr he wrote himself prescriptions between August 2015 and March 2017. On top of that self-prescription ban, Lee was fined $4000. He successfully had that ban lifted in June 2019, however, within a month Dr Lee visited a Perth pharmacy with prescriptions he wrote for himself on several occasions, according to State Administrative Tribunal documents. The first two were for Reandron, a medication used to replace the body's natural hormone testosterone and filled in August and September 2019. A third was for Armodafanil, a wakefulness-promoting medication, which was being prepared for Dr Lee when a pharmacist noticed the previous ban on his medical registration and instead alerted the medical board. Dr Lee also self-prescribed Selegiline and Pramipexole, Schedule 4 drugs used to treat symptoms of Parkinson's disease. To try and cover up his tracks, Dr Lee obtained a handwritten prescription for Armodafinil from a consultant psychiatrist and changed its date and attached it to a letter denying his actions to the medical board. Despite the latest blight on his record, Dr Lee received another chance this month, walking away with his medical licence intact and instead ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. The State Administrative Tribunal also forced him to pay the medical board's $5000 in legal fees. The SAT decision comes almost three years after Dr Lee was granted a spent conviction by Perth's Magistrates Court after admitting he gave his estranged partner a 'backhander' as he drove her home — and then pushed her over when they got there. In 2022, the then-45-year-old was due to go to trial over the incident, committed against his then-girlfriend during their 'toxic' 18-month relationship, but pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated common assault after a string of other domestic violence charges were dropped. After news of the assault, which Dr Lee failed to report to the medical board within the required seven days, his medical licence was suspended. In its decision to reinstate Dr Lee almost two years later, the tribunal sided with the medical board in accepting Dr Lee posed a 'serious risk of psychological harm to victims of abuse' that he saw in a clinical setting. But the tribunal did not accept Dr Lee 'posed a risk to women generally', and that the condition requiring him to disclose his criminal history sufficed. That condition, as well as the requirement he inform patients of his criminal history, was revoked by the medical board three months ago. It is understood that at the time of publication, Dr Lee's registration was subject to no conditions. The medical board has been contacted for comment.
