Tribunal fines and reprimands medical practitioner

06 Nov 2014

The State Administrative Tribunal of Western Australia has reprimanded Dr David Evan Roberts, ordered audits of his communication with patients and fined him $15,000 for unprofessional conduct.

The Medical Board of Australia referred Dr Roberts to the tribunal alleging he behaved unprofessionally on three occasions while treating two young boys (brothers) he had diagnosed as suffering from ADHD.

The tribunal found that on two occasions Dr Roberts’ conduct had been unprofessional when he had written notes to the patients’ mother that were derogatory about the patients (her children) and that on a third occasion had recommended treatment that suggested the mother and her husband use corporal punishment to bring about behavioural modification in the patients. Two other allegations were not substantiated.

The tribunal ordered that Dr Roberts:

• be reprimanded in relation to of each finding of unprofessional conduct, and
• pay a fine of $15,000 in relation to the third finding.

The tribunal also ordered that a senior general practitioner be appointed to audit Dr Roberts’ written contact with the patients/parents of the patients, in the context of the clinical notes, and that a second audit follow six months after the first.

The full decision is on the AustLII site.

Download a PDF of this Media release - Tribunal fines and reprimands practitioner - 6 November 2014 (152 KB,PDF)