A doctor has been banned from practising after a tribunal found he conducted inappropriate breast examinations, kissed a patient on the mouth, and made sexual comments.
Canberra doctor Nathem Al-Naser asked one woman "whether sex toys or marijuana enhanced sexual experience", and told another "your boyfriend is very lucky" during a breast exam, a tribunal has found.
In an ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal decision, published on Tuesday, Dr Al-Naser was found to have committed a series of breaches against two female patients.
The breaches occurred over a period spanning from 2004 to 2014.
Dr Al-Naser is the director of, and practised as a doctor at, the Conder Medical Centre and the Belconnen Medical Centre.
The tribunal, presided over by professor Tony Foley, formally reprimanded the doctor, cancelled his registration, disqualified him from re-applying for two years, and prohibited him from providing any health service for the same period.
Dr Al-Naser failed to properly assess, diagnose and treat a patient, while his management of her symptoms and prescriptions "was haphazard and did not reflect an evidence-based approach".
During consultations on May 20, 2010, and July 3, 2012, he performed inappropriate breast examinations by not offering the patient a chaperone, and pressed his leg against her during one of the exams.
He also made inappropriate physical contact as well as personal and sexual comments.
About 2013, Dr Al-Naser kissed the patient and disclosed information about his personal sexual life.
Other breaches included massaging her shoulders during consultations, and asking if "she had ever earned money through sexual activity with men".
In 2014, Dr Al-Naser carried out a deficient breast examination on a separate female patient who had asked to be prescribed the oral contraceptive pill.
The tribunal found he conducted the exam without taking procedural steps to ensure the woman's dignity and privacy were respected and maintained
This included failing to offer a modesty covering, and failing to document or explicitly seek the patient's consent.
The published decision states this was not Dr Al-Naser's first brush with the medical board, and he has "a lengthy and unenviable disciplinary history with sanctions or restrictions imposed by the applicant in its regulatory function or by the tribunal".
In 2019, Dr Al-Naser was banned from practising medicine for nine months after he failed to assess a patient and obtain her informed consent beforeshe underwent invasive laser skin treatment on her face at the Canberra Laser Biotherapy Clinic, a Belconnen business Dr Al-Naser owned until it ceased operating.
In 2015, he was banned from supervising a practice for two years after he failed to report a sexual relationship between a doctor he employed at the Belconnen Medical Centre, Dr Maged Khalil, and a patient.
