A surgeon has been reprimanded and fined after sharing a photo of a comatose patient’s penis, which was tattooed with a swastika.
An orthopaedic surgeon was fined $10,000 for sharing a photo of a comatose patient’sswastika tattoo.
The photo was shared on WhatsApp without any clinical purpose, leading to a tribunal investigation.
Tribunal member Peter Murphy SC stated the surgeon’s conduct was serious, highlighting the patient’s vulnerability.
An orthopaedic surgeon has been reprimanded and fined $10,000 after sharing a photo of a comatose patient’s penis, which was tattooed with a swastika, on WhatsApp.
The surgeon, whose name has been suppressed, was treating the man in a regional Queensland hospital in April 2019 after a home-made pipe-bomb exploded in his hands.
The man was placed in intensive care where he was intubated and placed in a coma for a week, during which he was treated by the doctor who was employed by the hospital.
While undergoing treatment, the surgeon “noticed the swastika tattoo and photographed it”, a finding by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal states.