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07 Jan 2026
A Queensland nurse who unlawfully and inappropriately injected a formulation of botulinum toxin into a patient without consulting a doctor or obtaining a prescription has been banned from nursing for two years.
Investigations by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency on behalf of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia identified that Thia Sullivan also created false records in relation to the cosmetic treatments and provided false and/or misleading information and documents to Ahpra investigators on three separate occasions in September 2019 and March 2020.
During the investigation, the Board placed interim conditions on Ms Sullivan’s registration on 5 September 2019 and later suspended Ms Sullivan’s nursing registration on 13 February 2020 due to suspected non-compliance with those conditions.
The matter was referred to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal and proceeded to hearing in September last year. The Tribunal heard that in August 2020, November 2020 and in March 2021, Ms Sullivan continued to practice as a nurse while suspended and administered cosmetic injectables to a patient when not authorised to do so.
It was further alleged that in late August and/or early September 2021, Ms Sullivan tried to discourage two of her patients from co-operating with Queensland Police in their investigations into her conduct.
In 2022, Ms Sullivan pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Magistrates’ Court to one charge of not being endorsed to possess a restricted drug and three counts of administering a restricted drug to another.
Following the hearing, the Tribunal found all six allegations against Ms Sullivan proven and found her guilty of professional misconduct.
In findings now published, the Tribunal said: ‘This is a case where general and specific deterrence are both important…. because of her decision previously to not accept her suspension and act accordingly, and secondly, there is a public interest in sending a clear message to practitioners and members of the public, that such disregard is unacceptable and will have consequences.’
‘The Tribunal has been provided with cases that support the proposition that any conduct done to evade investigation by regulators amounts to professional misconduct.’
Ms Sullivan was reprimanded, had her registration cancelled and is banned from reapplying for registration as a nurse until 29 September 2027. She is also prohibited from providing any health service, including cosmetic injectables, until she is re-registered.
Ahpra CEO Justin Untersteiner said this was a significant decision by the Tribunal and a good example of why Ahpra and the National Boards recently introduced tough new guidelines to clean up the cosmetic injectables industry.
‘We have been concerned about the cosmetic injectables industry for some time, and that is why we introduced sweeping changes to their enforceable guidelines in September this year to ensure patients have additional protections and that practitioners do not undertake procedures inappropriately,’ he said.
‘Safety of the public is paramount, and this Tribunal decision shows we will leave no stone unturned to investigate and take action against practitioners who do the wrong thing.’
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia Chair, Adjunct Professor Veronica Casey AM, said it was important for patients to check the register of practitioners when undergoing treatments to ensure their practitioner is not suspended or has conditions on their registration.
‘The Board is pleased with the Tribunal’s decision to ban this practitioner for a further two years for practicing while suspended. The Board takes its obligations seriously and only suspends practitioners when there is clear evidence their conduct is inappropriate and a risk to public safety,’ she said.
‘It is timely to remind patients that they can check the register of practitioners to see if the person they are receiving treatment from is suspended or should not be practising.’
