A radiologist who has been practising in Australia for several years after fleeing the US before he could face trial on child sex predator charges has had his medical registration suspended, following an investigation by Australia’s health regulator.
In October Guardian Australia revealed that Max Mehta had been charged in Dallas, Texas, in May 2004 for allegedly grooming a 15-year-old deaf girl for sex in an online chatroom. The girl was in fact a police officer posing as a child.
Mehta skipped bail of $100,000 and absconded to New Zealand in 2005 before he could face court and, because he had not been convicted or appeared in court, he passed police, immigration and work history checks.
He changed his name by deed poll in 2007 to Robert Taylor and, in 2009, moved to Australia on a Trans-Tasman New Zealand visa. He has been working in Australia ever since, including in Victoria and Western Australia.
In November an investigation by Guardian Australia further revealed that Mehta had provided medical care to asylum seekers on Christmas Island.
On Friday Mehta had his registration suspended, confirmed by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. It means he is barred from practising in Australia.
A Medical Board of Australia spokeswoman said the board’s role was to protect patients, manage risk to the public and make sure only practitioners who provide safe and ethical care are registered to practise.
“Dr Robert Taylor’s registration was suspended on 19 June 2015,” she said. “The board and AHPRA are not able to comment further at this time.”
Practitioners are suspended only if AHPRA and the board consider them to pose a threat to public safety; if they are found to have fraudulently obtained their medical registration; or if their medical registration was cancelled in another country.
A former colleague of Mehta’s, Dr Rauf Yousef, alerted several authorities to Mehta’s history in the US but until Guardian Australia broke the story in November none had acted, raising questions over the stringency of background checks when foreign doctors apply to work in Australia.
In January 2013 Mehta was found to have forged signatures on medical accreditation documents, including Yousef’s. This prompted Yousef to investigate Mehta further, bringing his name change and the US criminal charge to light.
As of next year AHPRA will enforce strict new measures so that practitioners qualified in medicine overseas will have to meet the same criminal history check standards demanded of health practitioners in Australia.
Do you know more? melissa.davey@theguardian.com
