Source: LF
February 26, 2008 Author: Janet Fife-Yeomans and Kate Sikora
POLICE have launched an investigation into the rogue doctor, known as the Butcher of Bega, who is accused of mutilating and sexually abusing hundreds of women.
As ex-doctor Graeme Reeves, of Castle Hill, went into hiding yesterday, The Daily Telegraph can reveal that other doctors accused of serious misconduct, including removing the wrong breast from a cancer victim, continue to practise.
Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione's office confirmed allegations made against Graeme Reeves by hundreds of women across the state was likely to be referred to the state crime command.
As many as 500 of his female patients have come forward with complaints that Reeves sexually assaulted them or mutilated their genitals during operations performed when he was illegally practising as an obstetrician on the South Coast.
The police investigation comes 11 years after the state's medical watchdog was first told Reeves' treatment of one patient led to her death, in another case a baby died and the life of another patient was endangered.
In 1997, the Professional Standards Committee did not strike him off but banned him from being an obstetrician.
When he was struck off in 2004 by the Medical Tribunal, it was still not for malpractice but for breaching orders he not work as an obstetrician.
The Health Care Complaints Commission, which investigates complaints against doctors, revealed yesterday it had the power to refer doctors to the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions but decided against it in the case of Reeves.
"An assessment was made that it was appropriate a complaint be referred to the Medical Board for possible deregistration," HCCC executive officer Kim Swan said.
Bega MP Andrew Constance has called for an independent inquiry into the complaints procedures against doctors, particularly Reeves who worked at Bega and Pambula Hospitals in 2002.
Since 2003, the HCCC has referred 104 doctors to the Medical Tribunal but only six related to medical mistreatment, an investigation by The Daily Telegraph has revealed. Most involved over-prescription or misuse of drugs or having sex with patients.
Other cases where doctors have continued to practise include a doctor jailed for possessing child pornography, another jailed for having an arsenal of unregistered firearms and one who performed botched circumcisions on babies.
Medical Error Action Group founder Lorraine Long accused the HCCC and Medical Tribunal of taking the easy option.
"It's incredibly difficult to get a decision that will get rid of the doctor," she said.
"We advise victims not to go to the Medical Board. Go to us or go to the police. They (the Medical Board) are more worried about their reputation than the patient."
