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News.com.au
4 days ago
- Health
- News.com.au
‘Hit her on the bottom': Sydney doctor's nurse harassment exposed
EXCLUSIVE A Sydney doctor who admitted to actions that amounted to sexually harassing three nurses while on night shift has been struck off from the profession for at least 12 months. Muruga Balaji Kandasamy Mohan faced the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal this week after three female nurses came forward over his conduct while working as an ICU doctor at Strathfield Private Hospital. Mr Mohan obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from Madurai Medical College in India in 1995 before registering as a doctor in NSW in 2006. He began working at Strathfield Private Hospital in 2009 before departing the hospital in September 2022. The tribunal heard how in July 2022, Mr Mohan pulled one of the nurses by the wrist into a small medication room, pulled down her surgical mask, touched her lip with his thumb and told her she looked beautiful. On another occasion, he pulled the same nurse into a 'darkened room' by her waist, before asking where she lived, how far her house was from the hospital and if he could see a 'picture of her house on her mobile telephone.' The tribunal heard how the incident left her 'shaking and scared' and 'quite traumatised'. 'She asked other nurses on her shift not to leave her alone with [Mr Mohan],' the tribunal heard. In 2021 – over a three to four month period -Mr Mohan asked another nurse to show him 'sexy pictures' on her phone about five times and told her she was 'beautiful and sexy'. He also massaged her shoulders on 'approximately five occasions'. 'She said that when [Mr Mohan] massaged her shoulders she told him she would report him and, on another occasion, told him that his conduct was unprofessional,' the tribunal heard. '[The nurse] said that [Mr Mohan] would 'laugh off' her comments.' The tribunal heard the third nurse said Mr Mohan would make sexual comments to her and would 'hit her on the bottom as she went past' while working at the hospital in 2018 and 2019. 'Because of the power imbalance between doctors and nurses … she did not make a complaint,' the tribunal heard. In a statement read out by the tribunal, Mr Mohan admitted to his behaviour and called it 'unacceptable'. He told the tribunal he believed the acts would be taken 'as a compliment'. The tribunal panel cancelled Mr Mohan's registration, banning him from applying for re-registration for 12 months. 'The Respondent's conduct was an abuse of power,' the tribunal decision stated. 'The complained of conduct was situational, that is the Respondent took advantage of the relatively isolated circumstances of night shift in a hospital ward. His conduct was deliberate.' Mr Mohan was previously a part owner of the Northwest Medical Centre in NSW until November 2024. He was also part owner of Churchill Family Practice in Victoria until May 2025, however, now has no financial interests in any general practices. After leaving Strathfield Private Hospital in September 2022, Mr Mohan was working one day per week in a general practice in Sydney.
Independent Singapore
6 days ago
- Health
- Independent Singapore
‘We're not just a doctor's helper' — SG nursing student says nurses are so poorly regarded despite how hard they work
SINGAPORE: 'Why is the stigma surrounding nurses so bad?' a local Reddit user who has chosen to study nursing asked in a June 3 (Tuesday) post. U/mashpotatoesarecool wrote on r/askSingapore wrote that every time she tells someone that she's studying nursing at a Polytechnic, they give her a 'judgy look.' Moreover, the 'nicer ones' ask her if nursing had been her first choice. 'F or anyone wondering, yes! It was my first choice,' she wrote, adding that she could have gone to a Junior College with the scores she got on her O-levels but chose not to, deciding instead to go into nursing. She also wrote that the past couple of weeks have been 'nothing but amazing so far' and that for now, she has no regrets over her decision. The post author also wondered why the cut-off point for nursing is so 'crazily high' and noted that the entry point into studying nursing at the National University of Singapore is 'so low,' adding that 'this just makes the stigma surrounding nurses SOO bad.' While others have the idea that nursing is for people who did not do well at school and have no other options, she wrote that what she's learning at the moment is quite difficult. She also touched on the low pay nurses receive, which adds to the perception that nurses are merely 'helpers for doctors,' who earn much more. 'Nurses aren't just helpers, we do so much more,' she wrote, adding that even if she could go on to study medicine, she wouldn't want to do so because of how much she loves the interaction nurses have with patients. 'Nursing is so versatile, there are so many different pathways to go to after you start working, and every day is something different,' she wrote, also noting that she would like to hear how other Singaporeans feel about nurses. Many Reddit users have weighed in on her post, and the top comments have involved thankfulness for nurses and the opinion that nurses should be paid more. Others, however, answered the post author 's question about why nurses are poorly regarded. 'Because a society like Singapore pegs admiration and respect accordingly to how much $$$ one earns, instead of integrity, dignity, and character or morality,' wrote one. Another wrote that if a nurse earned at least 75 per cent of what a doctor makes in the same number of years of experience, 'You'll see nurses being a highly coveted career in SG.' 'People are ignorant of the fact that nurses are the ones who take care of them in spite of how poorly regarded they are. It is a crime that healthcare workers are treated badly, and there needs to be a change in our society where hard physical work is looked down upon, and worse, derided for being low-class when they are the foundations of every society. And it should start with the leaders to put their money where their mouths are and start recognising and paying our nurses their worth.' /TISG See also How I used data analytics to weed cancer out of my Telegram group Read also: Nurse offered $2000 salary plus $500 housing allowance asks, 'Will I be able to survive on that?'
Sky News
28-05-2025
- Health
- Sky News
Joel Le Scouarnec: French surgeon who sexually abused hundreds of children is jailed
A former surgeon who sexually abused hundreds of children in France has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, was found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting 299 children in one of France 's largest-ever child sex abuse cases. Most of the victims were abused while under anaesthesia or waking up from operations, with an almost equal number of boys and girls. Two victims took their own lives years before the trial. He was accused of 300 separate offences - 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults - in more than a dozen hospitals between 1989 and 2014. Le Scouarnec is already serving a 15-year prison sentence for a 2020 conviction for the rape and sexual assault of four children, including two nieces. During the trial in Morbihan, in western France, prosecutors described Le Scouarnec as "a devil in a white coat" and requested the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. "I'm aware that the harm I've caused is beyond repair," Le Scouarnec said at the opening of the trial in February. "I owe it to all these people and their loved ones to admit my actions and their consequences, which they've endured and will keep having to endure all their lives." The court ordered Le Scouarnec should serve at least two-thirds of the sentence before he can be eligible for release. Presiding Judge Aude Buresi said Le Scouarnec had preyed on victims when they were at their most vulnerable. "Your acts were a blind spot in the medical world, to the extent that your colleagues, the medical authorities, were incapable of stopping your actions," the judge told Le Scouarnec. 2:45 Le Scouarnec had confessed to all the sexual abuse, as well as to other assaults that are now beyond the statute of limitations. He kept detailed records of the abuse he inflicted in notebooks and diaries and some only became aware they had been abused when contacted by investigators after their names appeared in his journals. Others only realised they had been admitted to hospital at the time by checking their medical journals. "I didn't see them as people," Le Scouarnec told the court during the trial. "They were the destination of my fantasies. As the trial went on, I began to see them as individuals, with emotions, anger, suffering and distress." Le Scouarnec was never investigated during his career, despite being sentenced in 2005 for owning child sexual abuse images. He was only apprehended after he retired in 2017 when a girl told her mother that Le Scouarnec had sexually abused her while she was playing in the garden of her home. When the police searched Le Scouarnec's house they found 300,000 indecent photos and videos of children, 70 child-sized dolls and hundreds of notebooks and diaries detailing his acts of abuse. Dozens of victims and rights campaigners gathered outside the courthouse in Brittany ahead of the verdict with a banner made of hundreds of pieces of white paper with black silhouettes - one for each victim. Some papers featured a first name and age, while others referred to the victim as "Anonymous". The local prosecutor has opened a separate investigation to determine if there was any criminal liability by agencies or individuals who could have prevented the abuse.
CBC
23-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Former Interior Health top doctor officially loses medical licence after sex crimes conviction
Social Sharing WARNING: This article contains references to sexual abuse and may affect those who have experienced abuse or know someone affected by it. The former chief medical health officer for B.C.'s Interior Health Authority has officially lost his licence to practise medicine after he was convicted two years ago of sexually interfering with a child in Alberta. Albert de Villiers was found guilty in Grand Prairie, Alta., in February 2023 of repeated sexual offences against a young boy over a two-year period in 2018 and 2020. The judge sentenced him to five and a half years in prison. Prior to his arrest in 2021, de Villiers worked in Kelowna, B.C., as the top doctor for Interior Health, a position he assumed in August 2020. Before working in public health in British Columbia, de Villiers was a medical officer of health for Alberta's north zone for 16 years. Apart from the 2023 conviction, De Villiers was also charged in a separate case in Alberta of one count each of voyeurism, sexual touching and making sexually explicit materials available to a child. The charges were withdrawn in September 2023, and a peace bond was issued due to challenges with the case, according to Alberta's Crown Prosecution Service. 'Voluntarily resign and surrender his licence' Now, more than two years after his conviction, de Villiers has officially lost his licence to practise medicine. On Tuesday, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC (CPSBC) released a public notice stating de Villiers agreed "to voluntarily resign and surrender his licence as a registrant of CPSBC," effective March 1, 2023. "The Inquiry Committee concluded that Dr. De Villiers's conduct was egregious and determined that his irrevocable commitment to resign as a registrant of CPSBC and to never reapply for registration in British Columbia or any other jurisdictions was appropriate in the circumstances," the college said in the public notice. The CPSBC said the inquiry committee and de Villiers agreed to resolve all matters in a consent agreement process with an effective date listed as May 2, 2025. CBC News has asked the CPSBC for an explanation on the timing of the public notice and its release more than two years after both de Villiers' criminal conviction and his reported agreement to surrender his medical licence, but the college has not yet responded. 'Moral blameworthiness is high' During his sentencing hearing in June 2023, Court of King's Bench Justice Shaina Leonard told the court de Villiers groomed a seven-year-old Grand Prairie boy through a chain of events from sleepovers to private phone calls, and sexually abused the boy on five to eight occasions over two years. "The offender's moral blameworthiness is high," Leonard said during the hearing. "The offender exploited the victim's vulnerability by taking advantage of the offender's position of trust as a trusted friend of the family." Interior Health released de Villiers from his job shortly after his conviction in 2023, but he earned $361,000 from the health authority during the 2021-2022 fiscal year alone, despite being on leave or desk duty for several months while awaiting trial.
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Dr John Froude obituary
My friend John Froude, who has died aged 80, was an infectious disease physician and worked all over the world. He died from complications of a stroke sustained last autumn. After resident medical posts at Orpington, the London and the National Heart hospitals in London, he went to Nigeria in 1973, and continued working in Africa, in Zimbabwe and Uganda, and the Middle East before settling in New York, where he obtained a position at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan in the 1980s, when the Aids epidemic was starting. He moved to practise as an infectious disease specialist in Kingston, in the Hudson Valley, in 2000. His skills as a diagnostician and physician were greatly appreciated by his medical and nursing colleagues, especially throughout the horrors of the Covid-19 pandemic when he praised the skills of the nursing staff. It was in Kingston that he became fascinated by Lyme disease, which is endemic in the Hudson Valley. John was born in Eastbourne, the middle of three sons of Dympna (nee Murphy), a nurse, and Leonard Froude, a police officer. He grew up in Worthing, West Sussex, and attended Steyning grammar school as a boarder before going on to study medicine at Guy's hospital medical school in London in 1962, where we met. There, he confessed he was probably the worst student on record. He also had aspirations to become a writer. Eventually, he fulfilled both his ambitions to be a doctor, a profession he came to love passionately, and a writer. Spurred on by Covid, he wrote Plagued, a book on pandemics over the ages, and followed this with True Lyme, on Lyme disease. He also wrote and published two novels. He worked right up to his illness and for the past few years had alternated between working as a doctor in US and writing at his home in Worthing. John had a large circle of friends, was a great raconteur, an enthusiastic musician and an impressive linguist. He had long been an admirer of Bob Dylan. John was proud of his Irish heritage and delighted in Irish literature, especially James Joyce. It was a source of pride to him when he obtained Irish nationality. John is survived by his partner, Elaine Taylor, with whom he entered into a civil partnership in 2022, his daughters, Abigail and Susannah from his marriage to Barbara Watkins, which ended in divorce, and his sons, Jack and Luke from his marriage to Gilda Riccardi, which also ended in divorce, five grandchildren, and his brothers, Leon and Peter.
