A Melbourne doctor who asked a vulnerable patient for sex while promising to help her get a disability pension has been allowed to keep practising despite a long history of serious complaints to regulators. The general practitioner is still treating patients without conditions on his registration, three and a half years after the latest allegations – and a damning string of text messages – were first brought to the attention of the Medical Board of Australia. A Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal panel recently found the female patient’s complaints against Glenroy-based Dr Hassan Alkazali were proven and constituted four counts of professional misconduct, with a determination on penalty due late next month. The panel accepted evidence that Dr Alkazali had asked the patient for sex over the phone and in dozens of text messages, and had tried to coach her on how to get a disability pension for schizophrenia, despite lacking evidence to reasonably believe she was schizophrenic. The text messages, reproduced in VCAT’s findings, show the doctor had responded to questions about the status of the patient’s pension application with: “But good dr needs good girl to play with.”
January 30, 2017
Sunnyfield Disability Services has been served with a s.773 (Application to deal with an unlawful termination dispute) by an ex-staffer (Kafoa).
January 27, 2017
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by the Gladstone Community Linking Agency Inc. T/A Gladstone Community Linking Agency for its Gladstone Community Linking Agency Inc Enterprise Agreement 2016 has been approved by Commissioner Saunders in Melbourne on the 25 January 2017.
January 23, 2017
Sao Duarte has lost her unfair dismissal claim against The Paraplegic & Quadriplegic Association of NSW because Deputy President Booth ruled that “she was unable to undertake the inherent requirements of her job as a result of incapacity.”
January 23, 2017
A former disability support worker sprayed petrol over a shop attendant and threatened to set him alight during an armed robbery, a court has heard. Police allege Kepa Kemp, 40, separately threatened five people with weapons and robbed them in Melbourne’s west between December 10 and December 27 last year. The alleged armed robberies include threats made against attendants in a tobacco shop, convenience store and pharmacy and a taxi driver. Mr Kemp later told police he was drinking between four and six litres of cask wine each day at the time and also using the drugs cannabis and ice, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard.
January 19, 2017
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by Speaking Up For You Inc. for its Speaking Up For You Enterprise Agreement 2016 has been approved by Commissioner Lee in Melbourne on the 18 January 2017.
January 17, 2017
Disability services provider Kira has appointed not-for-profit executive Vik Jeyakumar to lead the organisation as its new chief executive from February 6. Based in Perth’s northern suburbs Kira was founded in 1992 and is funded through the Disability Services Commission, providing individualised programs and tailored to the needs and outcomes of people with a disability.
November 10, 2016
The “Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union” known as the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) – New South Wales Branch and Quad Services have a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) before Deputy President Dean in Hearing Room 14-2 – Level 14 in Sydney.
