Shocking list of complaints against deregistered doctor date back to 1990

Mar 9 2008

As the shocking list of complaints against deregistered doctor Graeme Reeves continues to grow, a catalogue of events from as far back as 1990 has been revealed.

It appears that over a six year period between 1990-96 there were 14 complaints about Reeves' behaviour to the Health Care Complaints Commission.

Nine of these were serious obstetrics matters, including the death of a woman at Hills Private Hospital after Reeves refused her antibiotics, and the death of a child after traumatic delivery.

After these cases went to a hearing in 1996 the Hills Private Hospital refused to allow him to work there.

In July 1997 Reeves was banned from obstetrics and advised to seek psychiatric help.

Nevertheless in 1997 three more complaints were made to the Commission, including that of a child born with cerebral palsy, but no further action was apparently taken.

Despite this record Dr. Reeves was employed by the Greater Southern Area Health Service as an obstetrician in April 2002 after no checks were carried out on his history and he then attended another 40 patients.

In April 2002 he was employed at Pambula and Bega hospitals after the health department neglected to check his record and the same year saw a complaint to the Commission of sexual harassment at his Pambula private surgery.

In 2003 a complaint to commission regarding a death in 1999 was dismissed but he was sacked from the South Coast hospitals Health service.

In July 2004 he was deregistered but no action was taken on subsequent complaints because of the deregistration.

It appears that even though the Hills Private Hospital warned the NSW Medical Board as early as mid-1996 of "a marked deterioration" in the performance of Reeves and of "unprovoked verbal attacks" on nurses, often within earshot of patients, he was able to continue working.

Dr. Reeves, a former obstetrician and gynaecologist has been accused of sexual harassment and inflicting serious injuries and genital mutilation during procedures on hundreds of women.

It seems that Dr. Reeves employed similar behaviour at Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai Hospital, and at the Sydney Adventist Hospital, but nursing staff were often too afraid to confront him because of his aggressive reactions.

A patient who suffered at the hands of Reeves was grossly mutilated when he removed her labia majora and minora, clitoris and part of her perineum; female genital mutilation, unless necessary for medical welfare, is a crime under Section 45 of the Crimes Act.

It is defined as a person who "excises, infibulates or otherwise mutilates the whole or any part of the labia majora or labia minora or clitoris of another person"; it can result in as much as a seven year jail sentence.

Experts believe Reeves could also possibly be charged with common assault, which carries up to two years jail, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, which carries up to seven years.

As the number of complaints has grown a pattern of behaviour has unfolded where it appears that the intention was to intentionally harm women.

Women who have come forward speak of their shame and physical and emotional pain and complain of being stonewalled by health authorities.

The Medical Error Action Group spokeswoman says it has received 1,200 emails and documented more than 500 complaints.

It appears that the Health Care Complaints Commission referred none of the 25 complaints it received between 1990 and 2007 to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), as it was required to do if it suspected any criminality because 'none of the patients had alleged criminal conduct'.

According to the commission there were 'insufficient grounds' for the cases to be referred to the DPP.

Several new cases have now been, with patient consent, reported to the NSW Police Strike Force Tarella which is reviewing past complaints about clinical procedures.

There have been many failings by health authorities regarding Reeves' scandal all along the way and it will be difficult for the public to understand how for example the Greater Southern Area Health Service did not discover that he been banned from obstetrics in 1997.

It is also a worry that the considerable number of serious complaints, three of which involved deaths, against him from Hornsby Hospital and the Hills Private Hospital, went un-noticed, along with his well documented psychiatric problems.

The chances are that had the NSW Medical Board taken nine serious obstetrics complaints, out of the fourteen it reviewed, before a full tribunal rather than a Professional Standards Committee held behind closed doors, Reeves have been deregistered earlier and stopped from causing further damage.

The NSW State Government is now potentially facing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit as responsibility for Reeves being allowed to continue to operate in the system for so long after being deregistered, means someone will be held accountable.

The Australian Medical Association, says it is difficult to comprehend how Mr Reeves was able to continue practicing.