A retired doctor has been banned from practice after making racist comments against Australia’s first Indigenous eye surgeon and a pediatric patient.
The ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruled the doctor, whose name has been suppressed, was guilty of professional misconduct after making offensive comments about Indigenous Australians.
“This conduct is unbecoming of a physician and, in our view, has the potential to bring the medical profession into disrepute,” the tribunal ruled.
A retired doctor has been banned from practice after making racist comments against Australia’s first Indigenous eye surgeon and a child patient
In one case, a couple brought their four-year-old to his practice.
The doctor questioned the child’s inheritance and denied the parents access to an indigenous pharmaceutical benefit scheme.
He also sent a racist email to ophthalmologist Kris Rallah-Baker, Yuggera, Warangoo and Wiradjuri, whom he did not know and had never met.
His email challenged the surgeon’s legacy and accused them of using their identities to benefit from First Nations programs.
When the health regulator opened an investigation into the incident, the doctor said the agency’s board was “a bunch of idiots” and questioned the legitimacy of Dr. Rallah-Baker’s complaint.
He continued his tirade in the following days, calling the watchdog a ‘Gestapo’ and making more discriminatory comments towards the ophthalmologist.
While the tribunal was preparing its findings, Dr. Rallah-Baker specifically for his name to be mentioned.
“It was important to me that this outcome was not anonymous, so that people could see that they would not be brought down if they complain about racism, and if they want to reach out they can do so,” he said in a statement on Thursday .
In its final decision, the tribunal ruled that the doctor was barred from registering as a doctor for 12 months and recommended that restrictions be introduced if he even reapplied.
“We find that the respondent’s comments in the email he forwarded to Dr Rallah-Baker treated (him) less favorably than other individuals because of his racial background,” the tribunal said.
The doctor sent a racist email to respected surgeon Dr Kris Rallah-Baker (pictured) disputing Dr Rallah-Baker’s Indigenous heritage
The doctor resigned in August 2022 and surrendered his registration a year later.
He has since apologized to the regulator’s employee and Dr. Rallah-Baker.
But the tribunal said he had not shown genuine remorse, with a supplementary report describing him as having a ‘personality with cognitive rigidity and difficulty understanding others’ emotional reactions to his actions’.
Health regulator boss Martin Fletcher said it was a milestone that supported efforts to eliminate racism from healthcare.
“These reforms are supported by undisputed evidence that racism in all its forms – systemic, institutional and interpersonal – is harmful.”
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