A Sydney general practitioner, Hazem Chahoud, 64, has been barred from practicing medicine for at least another year after a tribunal found he made "physical sexual advances" towards a teenage patient in his consultation room in 2018. Chahoud's attempt to have his medical registration reinstated was dismissed by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The tribunal heard that the patient, who was 17 at the time and being treated for bulimia, received Chahoud's personal contact details and home address during an initial consultation in June 2018. During their final consultation in September of that year, the tribunal found Chahoud kissed the patient, moved his hand down her back below her bra strap, hugged her, and moved his hand up her thigh, continuing after she asked him to stop.
In the days following the incident, Chahoud sent the patient multiple text messages from his personal mobile phone, one of which included "love heart" emojis. The patient subsequently made a complaint about his behavior.
Chahoud initially denied the allegations before the Medical Council of New South Wales, claiming his wife had sent the text messages. This claim was supported by a statement from his wife. However, Vodafone telephone records and location data provided by the Health Care Complaints Commission later showed the messages were sent from his practice rooms, contradicting his assertion.
His medical registration was canceled in 2022 by a previous tribunal that found Chahoud had engaged in "most serious" misconduct. He had told that tribunal that the patient had kissed him first, a claim the tribunal later found to be untrue. Chahoud also admitted to falsely telling the Medical Council that his wife had sent the texts, stating he felt "hopeless and helpless" and feared for his children's future.
The 2022 tribunal concluded that Chahoud had fabricated evidence to avoid professional and personal consequences. "That fabrication we find went to the extent of having his wife provide a false statement which he intended to use and did use in a proceeding before the Medical Council where he knew he was required to be truthful," the tribunal found.
In denying his latest reinstatement application, the tribunal described Chahoud as an "unreliable historian." The judgment, handed down on September 17, noted that despite improvements in his physical and mental health, Chahoud demonstrated "little insight into his behaviour" and had failed to address the root causes of his dishonesty with his therapists. The tribunal concluded that without such insight and treatment, he remains at risk of engaging in similar behavior.
Chahoud's medical registration remains canceled, according to records held by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. He told the Daily Mail that the years since his registration was canceled have not been easy.