The conduct of now-banned gynaecologist Emil Gayed at several NSW hospitals will be referred to police.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The findings of an independent review conducted by Gail Furness SC were released by NSW Health on Thursday and will be passed on to police for investigation and consideration of prosecution, the department said in a statement.
Dr Gayed was found guilty of professional misconduct and had his medical licence suspended by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in mid-2018.
Ms Furness found in most years from 1999 to 2016 there was a complaint or concern raised about Dr Gayed's clinical treatment of a patient.
During that period he worked at Grafton, Cooma, Kempsey District, Mona Vale and Manning hospitals.
"Of most concern is that a repeated theme has been the unnecessary removal of organs, unnecessary or wrong procedures, perforations of organs and reluctance to transfer to tertiary facilities," Thursday's report states.
The review examined how Dr Gayed was appointed to various roles and how complaints were managed by local health districts.
Ms Furness found the system failed dozens of women treated by Dr Gayed at Manning Hospital. She's referred 30 patients to the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission.
Dr Gayed has previously been accused of failing to diagnose a 10-week pregnancy, telling a patient she had cervical cancer when there was no evidence of malignancy and unnecessarily removing a patient’s ovary and fallopian tube.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said, if true, it was "absolutely shocking".
"We will do everything we can to protect patients," she told reporters in Sydney.
"If there's more we need to do, we will."
Ms Furness made three recommendations for NSW Health including the review of governance processes in the Hunter New England district and that health districts ensure external oversight of practitioners providing obstetrician and gynaecologist services.
NSW Health on Thursday accepted the recommendations in full.
"Nothing can be done to change the mistakes of the past but we can ensure the recommendations in this report are fully implemented to prevent these failures from happening again,” deputy secretary Nigel Lyons said in a statement.
Australian Associated Press
