Psychiatrist Richard Young banned for having sex with a patient...again

September 29, 2010

A MELBOURNE doctor twice guilty of serious unprofessional conduct - once for having sex with two patients - has again been banned after admitting he paid for sex with a prostitute he had examined.

Richard Young, 42, had his registration suspended in 2001 for having sexual relationships with two patients, who were sex workers.

Dr Young, a former Ivanhoe Grammar student and University of Melbourne graduate, was then reprimanded and ordered to have counselling in 2006 after making inappropriate comments to a patient during a pap smear. The former Cleo bachelor of the year nominee was also found to have conducted an unnecessary internal examination of the patient.

Richard Young as he appeared in Cleo Magazine for the Cleo Bachelor of the Year.

In a decision last week by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Dr Young's registration was cancelled and he was disqualified until next July after offering a prostitute $50 for oral sex following a health check in March 2004.

Sex with the woman, identified as ''AB'', also breached a 2003 condition on his registration that he not have any sexual or personal relationship with a patient.

Dr Young strongly denied the allegation that he knew that AB was drug dependent and that another doctor at his clinic held a methadone permit for her. But he admitted that he should have known.

While the VCAT members accepted Dr Young's denial, they found that his prescription of a potentially deadly painkiller to the woman - a risk discovered by a pharmacist - amounted to serious unprofessional conduct.

Defence barrister Sean Cash told the hearing, brought by the Medical Board of Australia, that Dr Young's conduct with the patient in 2004 was not illegal or predatory, but consensual and isolated.

Mr Cash argued that suspension of his client's registration was sufficient and that cancellation would be wrong.

A psychiatrist - one of a number who have treated Dr Young - reported that Dr Young is more stable than he was six years ago and that the public ''now has nothing to fear from him''.

VCAT noted that Dr Young had previously had sex with AB at a brothel and that the psychiatrist agreed with the doctor that his conduct was illogical as he could have waited for AB to leave and then had oral sex at a brothel.

It found his conduct towards AB was not the worst case of unprofessional conduct, but believed the repeat offender remained a risk to the public.

Source: Steve Butcher, "Doctor again banned for sex with patient," Sydney Morning Herald, September 29, 2010.