Ex-Cats doctor banned

A FORMER Cats doctor has been stripped of his medical licence after he prescribed medications for — and had sexual relations with — a patient who later fatally overdosed.

Christopher Bradshaw, 58, once the leading physician with Collingwood and Geelong football clubs, was disqualified until October 2025 over his misconduct.

A Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruling revealed Dr Bradshaw breached the medical practitioners’ code of conduct by not only having a sexual relationship with a patient but also prescribing her with an array of drugs including oxycodone, diazepam and fentanyl.

Dr Bradshaw had treated the woman, identified as XY, for a hip injury since 2008. Their relationship turned intimate from 2011 to 2016, as he continued to treat her.

During that period, the Medical Board of Australia also put him on notice about “the importance of maintaining professional boundaries” following allegations he was having an inappropriate sexual relationship with another patient. He was later cautioned over that incident and underwent mentoring.

The tribunal said Dr Bradshaw, first registered as a medical practitioner in Victoria in 1985, should have known XY was vulnerable and at risk of developing an opioid dependency.

A Queensland coroner concluded the woman took her own life by ingesting a toxic amount of fentanyl, a drug she had not been prescribed.

In October 2018, the Medical Board of Australia referred the allegations to VCAT.

In a statement to the board, Dr Bradshaw said he was “distraught that (he) played (a) part in (her) taking her own life”.