The abortion doctor Suman Sood, who continued to practise in NSW despite more than 30 complaints against her, was refused registration as a doctor by three other states and territories, the Medical Tribunal has heard. More than 18 months after starting proceedings against the doctor, who was last month convicted of performing an illegal abortion, the tribunal opened its hearing into 11 complaints yesterday. In a statement, the Indian-trained doctor yesterday admitted she was guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct and declined to contest the hearing.
The complaints, by the Health Care Complaints Commission, cover the treatment of five patients, including the woman at the centre of the abortion case. The cases of three other patients, who cannot be named, were highlighted by the Herald under the names Louise, Nadia and Christine early this month. The commission also alleges Sood was not of good character, was dishonest, deliberately misled the NSW Medical Board at an earlier hearing, breached undertakings given in bankruptcy proceedings, made false medical notes and practised while suspended. Anna Katzmann, SC, for the commission, said all the complaints were so severe, the commission sought to prevent her from re-registering as a doctor "for a long period of time". "No other order is appropriate in order to protect the public," she said.
Sood had voluntarily withdrawn her registration at the end of last month, days after she was found guilty of illegally procuring a miscarriage and after the Herald revealed the litany of complaints against her.
The commission also alleges Sood misrepresented her standing before the District Court after being convicted of Medicare fraud, leading Judge Anthony Blackmore to talk of her "previous good record". "She clearly is a skilled practitioner whose services the community can ill afford to be without," Judge Blackmore had said. Sood is awaiting a retrial on these charges. The tribunal also heard Sood had applied for, and been denied, registration by the Medical Boards of Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
It was unclear last night when or why she was rejected. A spokeswoman for the Queensland Medical Board only said Sood was refused registration "after action taken in NSW". The tribunal also heard Sydney Adventist Hospital contacted the medical board advising of three "incidents" with Sood, when she worked for the hospital in late 2003 and early 2004. The complaints by patients include two patients suffering a ruptured uterus, the illegal abortion, poor post-operative care, and a patient falsely told she had cancer.
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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation. Both Australia and Sweden have large private sector health systems with government reimbursement for privately-provided services so can a purely private system with some level of government reimbursement or insurance for the poor be so hard to do?
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