The State Administrative Tribunal this year found Lisa Guildford-Taylor guilty of professional misconduct and of having an impairment in relation to her abuse of the sedative Phenergan.
The charges evolved from her actions in November 2012 when Ms Guildford-Taylor posed as an oncology registrar at Royal Perth Hospital and left messages on the phone of colorectal surgeon Gregory Makin.
She asked if Dr Makin could replace a damaged intravenous infusaport in a 23-year-old woman with breast cancer.
Ms Guildford-Taylor then posed as the patient and was operated on by Dr Makin – in a case the SAT said was “bizarre and disturbing”.
The nurse’s true identity was revealed after she suffered a blood infection, with Dr Makin confronting Ms Guildford-Taylor, when she claimed she needed the Phenergan intravenously to get through university.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency accused Ms Guildford-Taylor of masquerading as a medical practitioner and fabricating a medical history. The SAT agreed she had “brazenly impersonated” a doctor.
“She used medical knowledge, language and terminology in a calculated manner in order to mislead Dr Makin into thinking that she was a medical practitioner seeking an urgent procedure for his or her patient,” the SAT found.
The SAT has deregistered Ms Guildford-Taylor for five years, saying her professional misconduct had been “repeated and sustained”.
“Such conduct is not only utterly unacceptable in itself, but also undermines trust and confidence between health practitioners which is essential for proper patient care,” the tribunal said.
It denied a bid for Ms Guildford-Taylor to have her name suppressed after she claimed she had suffered death threats and assaults after the ruling.
The SAT said her claims were “fanciful”.