Tribunal chairwoman Theo Baker said the client may have been mistaken about some aspects of her treatment, but preferred most of her evidence, particularly the physio’s use of the word f***.
However, she believed the woman was mistaken about him saying c*** and that he did not straddle her on a plinth.
The woman was facedown at the time and could not see what he was doing and it was “feasible” for physios to “make some contact” throughout their appointments, so the charge was dismissed.
However, he was found to have undone her bra strap without proper consent.
Holding her appointment outside on the grass was also “inappropriate” and likely a contributing factor to her suffering an injury when the physio’s elbow went into her rib.
Baker said the physio continued to perform services that fell within the scope of physiotherapy for more than nine months after being suspended, so was guilty of that charge.
Performing neck manipulations and acupuncture without proper qualifications was also negligent and required sanction, Baker said, as was his lack of health and safety policies.
Charges relating to failing to retain and store clinical records after some files were lost in a flood, later stored in his car, and more lost on a transfer to a different office, Baker said the physio should have taken more care with them, but dismissed both charges.
The tribunal also declined to issue permanent name suppression but allowed it to continue for a month.
Strict conditions were imposed if he did decide to continue with physiotherapy, including two years’ of supervision and not to work in isolation.
He was also ordered to pay a “modest” fine of $500 and pay around $45,000 towards costs.
‘He’s already served his time’
The physio’s lawyer Duncan McGill urged the tribunal to censure rather than suspend the man given the nearly time he had already served.
“He has effectively served his time if I can put it that way,” he said.
“There’s a long road for [the physio] but at least if he has that road he has some options.”
His financial circumstances were “almost dire” and McGill urged against a fine or making him pay the hefty $220,000 costs bill.
McGill also applied for permanent name suppression for his client, which was opposed by Jonathan Coates, on behalf of the Professional Conduct Committee.
Coates said a period of suspension was appropriate but should be mitigated because of what he had already served.
The physio had “significant hurdles” to overcome before practising by himself again and Coates asked that he be subject to a minimum 12-month supervisory period before that could happen.
‘Starkly different’ versions of events
On Wednesday, in issuing his closing submissions, McGill reminded the tribunal that there was no suggestion of sexual impropriety by his client, and he refuted most of the allegations.
“[The physio] and [the client] describe starkly different versions of events ... he did not use any swear words, nor any other inappropriate language.”
Positioning himself on the same chair as the woman and readjusting her shoulders was “not plausible” and his not making any contact when on the chair, with either his chest or legs, meant the complaint was “simply not credible”.
He said it would have been “very simple” for the physio to have simply leaned over the back of the chair and done that.
The woman was “fixated” on seeking treatment for an injury she sustained, but failed to consider assessments he was doing as a registered physiotherapist.
“With these expectations, it is hard to envisage a situation where [the physio] could do anything right.”
Andrea Lane, for the Professional Conduct Committee, submitted the events were not something a person could make up.
The physio denied charges relating to the former client who accused her of treating her barefoot and topless, swearing, asking her to undress then failing to provide draping, talking about weed and hugging her then advising her to hug other people.
He told the tribunal the woman was lying, but delivering her closing submissions Lane said the woman had nothing to gain by laying her complaint which was just weeks after the alleged incident happened.
As for claims the physio told her she needed to hug more, hug “heart to heart”, and that he gave her a hug, which was all initially denied, under cross-examination the physio accepted he “probably did” tell her about heart-to-heart hugs.
Physiotherapy patients needed to understand both what was happening to them and why it was happening, Lane said.
That included carrying out part of an examination outside on the grass, which subsequently led to her suffering a rib injury.
The physio accepted he wasn’t wearing any shoes that day but normally wore “business Jandals”.
Asked what they were, he replied, “Jandals that look good”.
