Tribunal Bans SA GP Who Bought Drugs From Patient

South Australian general practitioner Richard Taverner has been banned from practising for one year after a tribunal found he prescribed addictive pain medication to a vulnerable patient and subsequently bought it back for his own personal use, ABC News reported.

Tribunal Findings and Professional Misconduct

The Medical Board of Australia referred a complaint regarding the 43-year-old doctor to the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The tribunal determined that Dr Taverner’s behavior fell significantly below the standards expected of a medical practitioner.

The conduct was egregious because it entailed the exploitation of a patient over a lengthy period of time. At all times, the [doctor] knew that what he was doing was wrong.

South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal

According to tribunal records published online, the case began when Dr Taverner took on a patient who was dependent on prescription medication in mid-2018. During a consultation, the doctor disclosed to the patient that he personally had abused various drugs of addiction.

The Prescription and Repurchase Arrangement

By mid-2019, Dr Taverner established an arrangement where he prescribed oxycodone, an addictive and tightly controlled opioid medication, for the patient to obtain from a pharmacy. ABC News reported that the patient then handed the dispensed medication over to the doctor.

In exchange, the doctor provided the patient with cash to cover the cost of the prescription, allowing the patient to keep any remaining money for personal use. The tribunal ruled that this operational loop constituted professional misconduct.

It was dangerous to the patient, and to himself. It endured over a lengthy period of time.

South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal

Beyond the patient arrangement, the tribunal found that Dr Taverner misappropriated oxycodone from a medication store at his practice. Investigators also determined he prescribed sedative and anxiety medications to the patient at a frequency deemed clinically inappropriate, ignoring explicit recommendations sent to him in letters from Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia.

Medical Records Falsification and Personal Drug Use

To conceal the scheme, Dr Taverner deleted prescriptions from the patient’s clinical files and failed to record mental health assessments. The tribunal noted he also falsified a presentation of a severe migraine to secure unauthorized prescriptions for himself and wrote drug orders using the names of his relatives over several months in 2018 and 2019.

These failures occurred due to the respondent intending to prevent anyone from discovering his arrangement with the patient, and because he knew prescribing oxycodone to the patient was wrong.

South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal

Registration Cancellation and Rehabilitation Status

The Medical Board of Australia imposed restrictions on Dr Taverner in June 2022 after discovering the allegations. Since entering an intense regime of drug testing under those restrictions, the practitioner has not returned a single positive result.

The tribunal acknowledged that the doctor took full responsibility for his actions, expressed shame regarding his failure to provide proper care, and demonstrated insight into his vulnerability. The decision noted that a longer suspension would have been ordered had the doctor not achieved such successful rehabilitation from his addiction.

Following the cancellation of his registration last month, Dr Taverner is disqualified from applying to re-register for one year. The tribunal noted he has continued working part-time as a general practitioner successfully for nearly four years since the misconduct took place, and currently poses no risk to the public due to his support systems.