The medical regulator has been ordered to pay Tasmania’s former chief psychiatrist $185,000 after a tribunal rejected an allegation that he crossed sexual boundaries with a former patient.
Aaron Groves was stood down without pay, lost his registration and has been out of work for more than three years.
The Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) found he had suffered a “catastrophic fall from grace” and has now scrapped the conditions that had effectively kept him out of the profession.
But it did find Groves committed professional misconduct over his prescribing, which his lawyer conceded was inappropriate and involved errors of judgment.
The Medical Board of Australia had alleged Groves crossed professional boundaries of a sexual nature by entering into a relationship with a woman who was, or had been, his patient.
The tribunal dismissed that allegation, later describing such a finding as “professionally devastating”.
The pair are now married and the tribunal found nothing improper in the relationship itself.
What it did find was misconduct in Groves prescribing medication to her. Doctors are not meant to prescribe for people close to them.
He did so six times between May 27 and July 4, 2022, including Schedule 8 drugs.
A pharmacist at Chemist Warehouse Sandy Bay reported Groves over a prescription for oxycodone.
The pharmacist and Tasmania’s chief pharmacist both warned him, but he prescribed again on July 4.
The tribunal said that was “contemptuous” of his professional obligations.
Groves initially argued it was an emergency, but later abandoned that argument. The tribunal found the woman could have seen another doctor.
Groves lost his chief psychiatrist role in August 2022. His registration was suspended that October and he was stood aside without pay.
It was restored the following year with conditions attached, 17 of which were still in force when the tribunal sat last month.
“The conditions rendered him unemployable and have, practically, been tantamount to a suspension,” his lawyer Ben Ihle said.
The board had pushed for another six months’ suspension, along with education and mentoring conditions.
The tribunal refused the suspension, finding Groves’ fall from grace was warning enough for him and other doctors.
It reprimanded him and ordered him to complete an education course.
It also dropped the mentoring condition because Groves is already being mentored by WA’s chief psychiatrist, who told the tribunal he had “no hesitation in fully endorsing an immediate return to practice”.
The board argued no costs should be paid, saying the boundary allegation was reasonably arguable.
It also said it was required by law to refer the matter and that the case fell in a “relatively grey area of professional ethics”.
The tribunal said those arguments might have been persuasive, but recent case law required it to award costs to the successful party.
It found Groves had “lost a battle” but “won the war” and accepted at least three-quarters of his legal spending went towards fighting the allegation that failed.
His lawyers billed about $283,000.
Groves has six months to complete the education course. The board told the tribunal the condition would be removed once he had done so to its satisfaction.
