THE NSW government will move to tighten hospital complaint rules after reports a Sydney neurosurgeon was allowed to continue operating on patients despite health authorities suspecting he was a cocaine addict.
NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner made the announcement after a Fairfax Media/ABC investigation reported Suresh Nair, a neurosurgeon at Nepean Hospital, was allegedly allowed to perform surgery despite the Medical Council of NSW investigating him over his drug use.
Nair has served more than four years in jail after pleading guilty to a number of charges, including supplying cocaine to 23-year-old Victoria McIntyre who died in hospital after a sex session at his Elizabeth Bay flat in February 2009. He also pleaded guilty to manslaughter, by gross negligence, in failing to call an ambulance for another woman, Suellen Domingues-Zaupa, 22, who died in his flat in November 2009 after a similar incident. Under the planned laws, hospitals will be able to access information about details of any restrictions placed on doctors who may be impaired by drug or alcohol use, Ms Skinner said. The change will make it mandatory for organisations employing health professionals to be fully informed of past impairments which could affect the performance of their doctors. Choong-Siew Yong, from the Medical Council of NSW, expressed regret that public confidence in the regulatory system had been damaged by Nair’s criminal behaviour. He said Nair underwent urine drug testing from 2004 to 2008, with no positive results. “While in hindsight we now know that he was using cocaine throughout 2009, the then board received no information that Dr Nair had relapsed until they were advised in November 2009 of the criminal charges against him,” Dr Yong told AAP. “The board acted immediately to suspend him from practice.”