A Melbourne doctor who continued to practise after being suspended and then hid from authorities by locking himself in a bathroom, has been convicted and ordered to do 300 hours of community work.
Dr Nicholas Sevdalis was handed a two-year community corrections order at the Heidelberg Magistrates Court on Monday.
He pleaded guilty to eight charges of holding himself out as registered between December 2018 and August 2019 and one of obstructing an Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) inspector.
The doctor’s registration had been suspended by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for six months in October, 2018, after he provided care to family members in circumstances that were avoidable, and his clinical management of 23 patients was not clinically justified and exposed them to potential harm.
Under Australian law, suspended practitioners cannot practise or hold themselves out xjmtzywas being registered anywhere in the country.
Yet Dr Sevdalis continued to practise from Fairfield Family Health Centre and presented himself as a registered medical practitioner to patients, a pharmacist and entities such as the Transport Accident Commission and VicRoads.
He consulted and treated patients, issued a medical certificate, authorised the dispensing of medication, reported to VicRoads on patients’ fitness to drive and licence issues and liaised with the TAC and a vocational rehabilitation firm on behalf of patients, a court heard.
AHRPA searched the Fairfield Family Health Centre in April, 2019, during its investigation into allegations Dr Sevdalis was practising while suspended.
During the execution of the warrant, Dr Sevdalis obstructed an investigator from seizing a document by taking it and locking himself in a bathroom.
He remained in the bathroom for 15 minutes and when he emerged, the coversheet of the document was gone.
After VCAT’s suspension ended in May, 2019, Dr Sevdalis’ registration was suspended again by the Medical Board of Australia under immediate action to protect public health or safety.
Handing down his sentence on Monday, Magistrate Dominic Lennon also ordered Dr Sevdalis pay AHPRA’s legal costs of $30,603.
Martin Fletcher, the CEO of AHPRA which brought the charges, hoped the result would act as a strong deterrent for others.
“We will not hesitate in taking action against anyone who practises as a health practitioner without being registered,” he said.
Medical Board chair Dr Anne Tonkin, branded the behaviour “unacceptable”.
“Falsely claiming to be registered erodes the high trust the public places in the medical profession,” she said.
