Editor’s note October 1, 2019: This story has been updated to make it clear that no conviction was recorded in Steel’s case.
A leading Sydney brain surgeon has appeared in a Queensland court charged with possessing cocaine.
Timothy Robert Steel from Woollahra, in Sydney's east, has been directed to attend a drug assessment and education program on the Gold Coast.
Steel was charged with possessing a dangerous drug.
He was detained at The Drink nightclub at Surfers Paradise in the early hours of Monday morning.
A magistrate referred him to a drug diversion program and released him on $150 bail. No conviction was recorded.
Court documents show he admitted to possessing one gram of cocaine.
Steel is required to take part in the diversion program in the next month.
He has been suspended indefinitely from St Vincent's Hospital.
St Vincent's Hospital spokesman David Faktor says hospital officials will meet Steel soon to discuss his future.
"We're going to chat to Dr Steel tomorrow but in the interim he has been suspended from surgery at St Vincent's Hospital. We'll wait until further guidance from the medical board," he said.
