DOCTOR Grant Woo has been banned from practicing after admitting that he performed bizarre sexual examinations on naked female patients.
He tricked one woman into letting him internally examine her after convincing her he needed to touch an internal acupuncture pressure point to treat her hormone imbalance.
Dr Woo persuaded another female patient to let him insert a mixture of Chinese herbal powder into her vagina after he told her he needed to do so to treat her digestive problems, the Herald Sun said. He also massaged a naked female patient’s nipples after telling her he needed to do so to “stimulate hormones”.
The Chinese Medicine Registration Board took action against Dr Woo, who operates Woo’s Chinese Medicine in Chapel St, South Yarra. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal cancelled his registration to practice and found him guilty of unprofessional conduct. Chinese Medicine Registration Board president David Halstead said the public needed to be protected from people like Dr Woo, and praised VCAT for cancelling his registration.
“Using a patient for personal sexual gratification is totally reprehensible and one of the worst breaches of trust,” Mr Halstead said. “The board relies on patients reporting suspect conduct so that it can take appropriate action.
“This long investigation into Dr Woo’s conduct involved three patients spanning 10 years.” The VCAT hearing was told Dr Woo had more than 4000 registered patients and that he had been registered as an acupuncturist and Chinese herbal medicine practitioner since 2002, but also treated patients before that. Dr Woo admitted performing internal examinations that were unnecessary and therapeutically inappropriate.
He also admitted directing a female patient to strip naked and that he didn’t properly obtain her consent prior to examining her internally, after telling her there was an acupuncture point inside her, and massaging and squeezing her nipples.
Expert witnesses told the hearing there were no acupuncture points in the vagina. VCAT ruled there was no clinical justification for his internal examinations “and that he carried out these activities for his own sexual gratification”.
It banned him from re-applying for registration for two years.
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