A Melbourne doctor has been granted permission to resume practising medicine after having sex with a female patient in a toilet at a Melbourne hotel, which is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the health industry regulator.
Until his suspension in July 2019, Dr Sami had worked as a GP at several clinics in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs, while also employed by AHPRA to assess the experience and credentials of international graduates applying to work in Australia. The patient said in a statement that she had recognised Dr Sami early in the evening while ordering a drink at the bar.
But he conceded in the statement that: “I now believe she may have said words to the effect that she was a patient of mine but I only recalled this possibility after reflection about the incident in the days after it occurred.” Dr Sami had treated the woman for “not just simple run of the mill matters”, according to VCAT, but “matters potentially of some complexity, going to her physical and mental health”.