A South African doctor who had been practising in Australia has been struck off the medical register after being found guilty of having a sexual relationship with a vulnerable 24-year-old patient suffering from mental health issues and alcoholism.
The Post reports that Dr Indren Moodley (55) was also found to have dangerously prescribed high-risk medication, and has been banned from practising medicine for four years.
Moodley, a GP for 29 years, was subjected to a tribunal by the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT) after it had received a complaint about him from the Medical Board of Australia, in which a patient alleged he had groomed and seduced her before giving her alcohol and having sex with her.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) released SACAT’s findings last month.
The complainant had been lodged in October 2021. At the time, Moodley’s licence was suspended.
According to the tribunal’s findings, the woman had been a patient since 2018, and between August and September 2021, had attended 11 consultations with Moodley. He treated her for post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, borderline personality disorder, alcoholism, gastritis, abnormal liver function, abdominal pain, and vitamin D deficiency.
However, the tribunal found that Moodley failed to maintain professional boundaries, and engaged in an inappropriate and sexualised personal relationship with her between 1 September 2021 and 12 September 2021.
In that time, he exchanged 909 text messages with her, including numerous inappropriate, personal, non-clinical and sexual messages.
He also asked her intimate questions about her relationships and childhood, and even discussed his own mental health issues and suicidal ideation – as well as his alcohol consumption – with her. He also offered her alcohol, inviting her to his house, and encouraging her to keep their relationship a secret.
On 8 September 2021, he had invited her to his apartment via text message. When she got there, despite knowing and treating her for alcohol addiction, he offered her alcohol, which she accepted.
“The respondent provided red wine from a bottle and he drank Coke. He then kissed her and engaged in sexual intercourse with her,” the findings stated.
In a statement provided to AHPRA, the patient said: “The relationship with Dr Moodley has had a big impact on me. I still have nightmares about it. I have started drinking more to help me sleep. I have been in and out of detox about five times. I still have difficulty sleeping.”
She said she had been to three different medical clinics as she would now only see women doctors.
“This has also impacted my trust in men as a whole as well as any professional in superior fields. At the time I did not realise how unwell I was mentally, physically and emotionally …I feel used and manipulated by a person who knew my physical and mental illnesses.”
The tribunal found that the seriousness of Moodley’s conduct on the patient ought to have been reasonably foreseeable to him.
“The tribunal finds he has behaved in a way that constitutes professional misconduct; therefore his registration is cancelled, he is disqualified from applying for registration as a registered health practitioner for four years.”
He was also ordered to pay the board’s costs of the proceedings.
In a written report provided to AHPRA by an expert in evaluating medical records and assessing practitioner performance, she said the patient was significantly mentally unwell and Moodley was aware of this.
“As a doctor, he would also have been aware of the potential extreme emotional vulnerability of a patient with borderline personality disorder and a history of sexual abuse.
“Moodley took advantage of the patient’s multiple vulnerabilities and abused the power imbalance between them for his personal sexual satisfaction. His conduct was seriously unethical, predatory and cruel.”
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