An emergency department doctor who worked at the Joondalup Health Campus has been suspended for three years and fined $175,000 after the Medical Board found he sexually assaulted an 18-year-old woman.
Dr Kim Mullaley was found by the State Administrative Tribunal to have engaged in professional misconduct by touching a woman’s vagina in July 2016 during an autopsy “when there was no medical reason to do so”.
The board heard that the woman was admitted to Hollywood Private Hospital for an eating disorder she had been suffering from for several years and had been hospitalized several times.
On July 12 2016 the woman was transferred from Hollywood to Joondalup Health Campus by ambulance with a police escort. He was at risk of harming himself, court documents state, and was transferred to Joondalup as it offered greater safety.
He was declared involuntarily ill under the Mental Health Act and an assessment was made in the emergency department where his history was recorded but he refused a physical examination.
Despite this, the court heard that Dr. Mullaley did a physical examination of the woman and did so without a pastor to determine if she was healthy and suitable for treatment.
admitted to the mental health unit of the hospital.
During or after the physical examination, Dr Mullaley gave the woman what he described as ‘counseling’.
The woman returned to the same emergency department eight months later and was examined again by Dr Mullaley. He took two pictures while inside the grave and sent them to his mother claiming that he was being examined by the same doctor who had previously engaged in sexual intercourse.
The court heard his mother then entered the room and abused the doctor, calling him “dirty” and “disgusting” and accusing him of not being fit to work in a hospital.
Then a different doctor took charge of the woman.
The Medical Board referred the matter to the court. He was found to have “conducted himself in a manner amounting to professional misconduct” after a hearing in which the woman had to testify for five hours.
“It was clear that testifying was very difficult for the complainant,” court documents say.
“Sometimes he seemed anxious, worried and sad. More often, in fact, occasionally, he was upset and cried. Several times, he was very upset. Sometimes he was angry and confused, especially when it was suggested that his evidence was incorrect or inconsistent with other evidence, including his own.
“At the end of his testimony, he was very upset and cried and repeatedly said that he was not lying.”
Last month his registration was officially suspended until September 2028 and he was ordered to pay the Medical Board $175,000 in costs.
