In its scathing 2021 judgment, NCAT lashed Mooney for among other things, substandard care, lying to authorities about a relationship with another patient (Patient C), and falsifying a medical certificate relating to a compulsory drug test following a positive test for cocaine.
Patient A died in March 2018 following a botched operation to fix his snoring.
Experts said this operation usually would take about 90 minutes. According to a nurse’s record, Mooney took 23 minutes. The family was unaware Mooney had to sew over an artery he nicked during the operation. The patient’s family waited hours to see Mooney after the operation but he never came.
Several days later, the patient began vomiting blood, was re-admitted to hospital where he suffered massive haemorrhaging and organ failure. He later died.
Following his death, the patient’s mother and sister took their own lives.
Patient B had died earlier in 2018. “While operating on patient B, Dr Mooney penetrated the bone below the brain and disrupted an artery, causing bleeding into the right frontal lobe,” the tribunal found
Patient B died without regaining consciousness. His wife later successfully sued Mooney for negligence.
In banning him for a year, NCAT cited substandard care and unsatisfactory professional conduct: “Dr Mooney has committed acts which are egregious departures from proper standards across a broad range of duties which a doctor owes to his patients and the public.”
He crossed the boundary for more than two years in an abuse of the doctor-patient relationship, NCAT found.
“Dr Mooney’s conduct in breaching conditions on his registration, and then deliberately lying to the Medical Council and the HCCC about those breaches and other matters, is completely inconsistent with his duty as a medical practitioner to be honest, ethical and trustworthy.”
He faked a medical certificate to avoid a drug test that was required after he had been caught using cocaine.
“Mooney saw patients while providing illness certificates to avoid hair drug testing,” it was found.
Mooney “deliberately lied to try and hide his breach of the hair testing condition”.
Whilst sidelined, Mooney pleaded guilty to buying cocaine in a street deal, argued in court it was an “act of chivalry” in collecting the drug for his partner, and received a 12-month bond.
Other complainants came forward. A stripper who sued Mooney claimed her only medical consultation before her “nose job” was in the early hours of the morning at the Melbourne strip club where she was working.
Last week, the same tribunal that eviscerated Mooney’s honesty performed a volte-face when Mooney appealed to be allowed to resume practise following a one-year ban.
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It heard expert testimony from a psychiatrist who said “Mooney did not take full responsibility for his own conduct” with Patient C, saying “she was the one ‘coming on’ to him”.
But NCAT concluded it is “highly unlikely” that William Mooney “will repeat any of the mistakes of the past”.
“In our view, Mr Mooney has proven that he can be trusted to practise in an honest and ethical manner and presents no risk to the safety of the public and their confidence in the profession,” the tribunal found.
“He has put a considerable amount of time and effort into addressing his past unethical behaviour.”
The next step in Mooney’s return is for medical regulators to consider applying conditions on his practising licence.
The Herald believes that given the extent of the findings against Mooney, combined with the powerful testimony of McClymont’s reporting, that medical regulators should impose conditions on his licence to protect the public.
It’s worth noting NCAT was forceful in its original decision to ban Mooney: “Taking into account the seriousness of the conduct, the need for general deterrence, the maintenance of confidence in the medical profession and the necessity to give Dr Mooney an opportunity to complete the journey into gaining full insight, we have decided to cancel, not suspend, his registration.”
It appears that journey was a short one.
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Source Agencies
