Court and tribunal outcomes are independent and public.
Tribunal decisions relate to complaints or concerns about the conduct, performance or behaviour of a health practitioner.
Court decisions can sometimes refer to an appeal of a tribunal decision or more commonly the outcome in court of a criminal offence matter.
We publish summaries of these outcomes on the Ahpra and National Board websites. For decisions about practitioners in New South Wales, please refer to the Health Care Complaints Commission website.
We also publish a link to tribunal or court decisions on each practitioner’s record on the Public register which involve adverse findings and which were delivered after the start of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme.
Publishing outcomes can help the person we receive the complaint or concern about see through the eyes of the person who raised it with us.
They also help practitioners understand how the National Law helps them to practise safely or ethically.
Importantly, they show members of the public what is an acceptable and unacceptable level of care and behaviour.
A full record of decisions made by adjudication bodies (other than panels) relating to complaints made about health practitioners or students is published in the Australian Health Practitioner Law Library published on the Australian Legal Information Institute’s (AustLII) website.
The following table lists summaries of some court and tribunal decisions relevant to the National Law. These are published periodically as decisions are handed down.
This table allows for filtering certain columns. To filter by Board, use the drop down box. To filter by Date of decision and Case name, type in the date/name required (e.g. typing in 2014 will filter results from that year). You can filter multiple rows if required.
Mr Gary Anderson: A tribunal has suspended a registered nurse’s registration for three months for professional misconduct after he dragged an elderly patient who had been diagnosed with dementia to her room. Read the news item.
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia v Edwards
Mrs Emily Victoria Adam: A tribunal has suspended an enrolled nurse’s registration for three months for professional misconduct concerning an improper relationship with a patient. Read the news item.
Mr Grant Burrows: A nurse has had his registration cancelled and been disqualified from applying for registration for four years for professional misconduct. Read the news item.
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia v Ballarto
Ms Kristeena Ballarto: A tribunal has suspended a nurse for transgressing professional boundaries with a patient over text messages. Read the news item.
Nursing and Midwifery Board
Dr Dev Roychowdhury: The ACT tribunal has found a psychologist guilty of professional misconduct, cancelled his registration and banned him from applying for registration until 7 February 2022. Read the news item.
Dr Luke Ainsworth: A Victorian tribunal has found a psychiatrist who had a relationship with his patient guilty of professional misconduct and unprofessional conduct and disqualified him from applying for registration until December 2019. Read the news item.
AHPRA v Michael Simon
Mr Edward Lipohar: A court has convicted a man and fined him $65,000 plus $25,000 in costs for unlawfully claiming to be a dental specialist and performing restricted dental acts on two patients. Read the media release.
Ms Jessica Anne Schouten: A tribunal has suspended a nurse for four months after she admitted to professional misconduct concerning misappropriated drugs. Read the news item.