Panel hearing summary 2020.0898

Decision of the Paramedicine Board of Australia

Performance and professional standards panel 

Jurisdiction: Victoria
Date of Decision: 12 February 2021

Classification of Notification

Boundary violation - Inappropriate sexual comments

Summary

The Board referred allegations that the Practitioner failed to maintain professional boundaries with a student while employed as a lecturer of paramedicine at a university (specifically, by making inappropriate comments, inviting the student to participate in a private project that he did not want disclosed to the university, contacting the student via Facebook and demonstrating inappropriate behaviour at an awards ceremony).

The Practitioner submitted that he had no recollection of making many of the alleged inappropriate comments. He conceded that he had invited the student to participate in a private project but noted that she had declined to do so. The Practitioner accepted that he may have been Facebook friends with the student at one point. In addition, he conceded that he had behaved inappropriately at the awards ceremony and explained that this was due to the alcohol he had consumed. He informed the Panel that he had not consumed any alcohol since that event and that he had been undergoing therapy in order to deal with his issues (although he did not provide any evidence to substantiate same).

The Panel found that the Practitioner’s breach of professional boundaries constituted unprofessional conduct. The Panel felt that the Practitioner was quite egotistical and displayed limited capacity for self-reflection and insight.

The Panel reprimanded the Practitioner and imposed conditions on his registration requiring education and mentoring in relation to professional boundaries, power imbalances and ethical decision making. The Practitioner surrendered his registration following the Panel hearing.