A general practitioner who inspected and touched the genitals of patients has had their charges dismissed after a tribunal found "insufficient evidence" to support a finding of professional misconduct.
On Wednesday, a decision released by the Health Practitioner's Disciplinary Tribunal said a disciplinary charge was laid against the doctor in 2020 after several allegations of professional misconduct.
The charge related to the way the registered medical practitioner assessed 12 recruits seeking to join the police force between 1998 and 2006.
Allegations included he conducted "various intimate physical and visual examinations" of female and male patients.
Despite there being no suggestion of sexualised conduct, the examinations were alleged to be "inappropriate for the purpose of the appointment".
In June 2017, a police employee complained about her examination in 2002.
The police then investigated and identified other complainants.
In February 2020, the Medical Council's Professional Conduct Committee laid the disciplinary charge against the GP.
It asked each of the former police recruits to give evidence about the examinations, some of whom did so in private.
The GP defended the charges laid before him and denied any inappropriate conduct or impropriety.
He said while he'd undertaken "intimate examinations on recruits", he maintained this was done under what he believed was expected by police requirements.
The tribunal heard the GP undertook rectal examinations on three patients, during which contact with the vaginal area took place in one instance.
He also undertook visual examinations of the male genitals of two patients and allegedly "inadequately communicated the purpose of the examination to each patient".
In defence, the GP's counsel explained he was "at a disadvantage because he could honestly not remember each of the examinations and could only speak to his 'usual practice.'"
After an appeal by the GP, the tribunal found there was "insufficient evidence" to support a finding of professional misconduct, which is "to be on the balance of probabilities".
The charges were dismissed in their entirety and the tribunal ordered permanent name suppression for the doctor, the police recruit witnesses and any identifying information.
