Doctor in court on sex assault

THE case against a Brisbane anaesthetist who also worked in Toowoomba and was charged with sexual assault of unconscious women patients has been transferred to the Brisbane courts.

A written submission sent to the prosecution by the 59year-old Mount Ommaney man’s legal representatives to move the case to Brisbane had been accepted, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday.

The anaesthetist, who cannot be named unless committed to trial on the charges, is accused of sexually assaulting and photographing women patients while in hospital.

He has been charged with three counts of sexual assault and three counts of “observations or recordings in breach of privacy” as the charges read on the court documents.

The accused man has not as yet been called upon to enter any pleas to the charges.

He was not required to be in court for the brief mention of the case on Tuesday.

Police alleged the anaesthetist inappropriately touched three women in their 20s while they were unconscious in the hospital between November last year and February this year.

Detectives had asked anyone who believed they may have been affected to come forward.

In April, the Queensland Office of the Health Ombudsman imposed conditions on the doctor’s registration with the Medical Board of Australia, ordering him “not to have contact with female patients”.

It also ordered the specialist to provide written confirmation that his employers had been notified of the allegations and subsequent charges.

No particular details of the police allegations have as yet been aired in court.

Magistrate Howard Osborne remanded the accused man on bail and adjourned the case for mention in Brisbane Magistrates Court number 18 in two weeks’ time.