October 16, 2017
A Kingaroy GP has been fined $2000 and has had her registration suspended for 12 months in a judgment handed down in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal last month.
However, Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren also ruled the registration suspension against Dr Isabella Jonsson be wholly suspended for 12 months.
This leaves Dr Jonsson free to practise, under certain conditions prescribed in the order.
These include that Dr Jonsson is to have a mentor for the next two years, approved by the Medical Board of Australia.
She is also prohibited from self-prescribing any medication, and must submit to urine drug testing.
The orders follow a drawn-out legal case which dates back to 2012.
On August 28, 2012, the Medical Board of Australia referred disciplinary proceedings to QCAT against Dr Jonsson.
A hearing was held in Brisbane in June 2015.
The referral contained five counts of conduct that was alleged to amount to unsatisfactory professional conduct pursuant to Section 124 of the Health Practitioner (Disciplinary Proceedings) Act 1999 and a further two counts that were alleged to amount to unprofessional conduct under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.
The allegations included that Dr Jonsson abused a position of influence and trust with a patient through a failure to maintain appropriate professional boundaries, and engaging in an inappropriate personal relationship.
Between June 1 and November 30, 2006, Dr Jonsson allowed the patient to move into her residence in Kingaroy.
It was also alleged that Dr Jonsson prescribed an addictive drug, Flunitrazepam, for the use of her (then) husband as well as herself, and had manipulated prescriptions to get the drug.
The judgment stated that the drug allegations were particularly concerning as Dr Jonsson had previously been found by the Board to be impaired through narcotic abuse/dependence (pethidine) and major depression.
There was also an allegation that Dr Jonsson breached patient confidentiality by sharing information with a patient’s parents.
The Medical Board had sought a cancellation of Dr Jonsson’s registration and an order precluding her from practising for three to four years, citing the need for general deterrence and an alleged lack of insight and remorse in her.
However, the judge disagreed.
“In the Tribunal’s view, those submissions should not be accepted. There is evidence of Dr Jonsson having insight and remorse into her contravening conduct. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that her insight and remorse have increased over time,” Judge Horneman-Wren said.
The judge noted Dr Jonsson had received references from “other medical practitioners, both general and specialist; managers of residential aged care facilities; ministers of religion; local politicians; and patients. There are references from the University of Queensland where Dr Jonsson ‘holds a senior lecturer position’ and ‘is an enthusiastic teacher for medical students’, and Bond University where she makes ‘significant contribution to the clinical teaching and supervision of Year 5 students’.
- Related article: GP Faces February Hearing
