When sexual assault survivor Tom Monagle came out with his story in 2016, he hoped it would elicit a major overhaul within the country’s medical system to stop sexual predators from treating patients.
But seven years on, the 27-year-old from Melbourne says “nothing has changed” and is calling on the peak regulators across the country to put “under the microscope” the way they handle sexual assault complaints.
In 2015, Tom was referred to Victorian-based neurologist Dr Andrew Churchyard, following a recent diagnosis of Tourette syndrome.
The then-19-year-old had consultations with a number of specialists prior to his first appointment with Dr Churchyard, yet the now notorious doctor was the only person Tom “clicked” with.
“(Dr Churchyard) came highly recommended. He was an expert – I think a nationwide or even potentially worldwide expert – in his field of neurology,” he told news.com.au.
The then-university student’s parents were general practitioners, with some of their colleagues recommending the “highly esteemed” doctor to assist with treating their son’s condition.
Mr Monagle recalled the first time he met the man who was about to change his life, revealing how their discussions made the young adult feel “at ease” because of Dr Churchyard’s knowledge and experience in the area.
“He was able to shine a light on things that maybe I hadn’t even realised about what it’s like to live with Tourette syndrome,” Tom said.
For the first 15 minutes of the consultation, Tom’s mum was in the room with him, however once she left, Dr Churchyard’s intentions changed.
The neurologist asked Tom to go to the examination bed and completely undress so he could perform “a full body exam”.
“When you’re sitting in the doctor’s room, the assumption is that everything that’s occurring in the consult is for your own wellbeing,” Tom said. “So I obliged.”
Dr Churchyard started the exam – without the use of gloves – by touching and pointing to parts of Tom’s head and body before ending at his penis and testicles.
“While he was examining down there, touching and prodding, he was talking to me about STDs (sexually-transmitted diseases) and how they might present,” Tom said.
“I think he used that as his excuse to instigate (his actions).”
After the appointment, Tom spoke to his parents about what had occurred during the consultation, however after some discussion they decided to give Dr Churchyard “the benefit of the doubt”.
“There was a little bit of feeling that surely this couldn’t be a sexual assault, like that would be so brazen,” Tom said.
Any doubts Tom had receded when he saw Dr Churchyard again for a second appointment.
“Nothing bad happened (during the appointment) and I remember leaving feeling really relieved and I remember calling my dad afterwards and telling him ‘nothing weird had happened’,” he said.
“To me that almost felt like confirmation that the first appointment was probably fine, it was probably legitimate … so it should all be good.”
Tom saw Dr Churchyard for a third time when he was experiencing anxiety over his body image.
While he was after Dr Churchyard’s advice, he was sure to reiterate he had “no confidence issues about (his) penis” in an attempt to dissuade the doctor from having a reason to touch him in fear of what happened the first time.
However, Tom’s “tactic” didn’t work, with the doctor instructing him to get undressed and head to the examination bed, where he repeated his actions from the first consultation.
“People talk about a fight or flight response. There’s also the freeze response – I guess that’s sort of what happened to me,” Tom said.
The assault happened over the course of a few minutes, until Dr Churchyard allowed Tom to get dressed – in full view of him – before leaving.
But as Tom was approaching the door, he noticed a “dark patch” around Dr Churchyard’s groin.
“Seeing what appeared to be an erection, that just confirmed to me the whole thing had just been for sexual gratification and there was nothing medical about this at all,” he said.
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As Tom approached his mum, she could tell straight away something was wrong. After he discussed the incident with his parents, the family went to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) before making a statement to police.
Shortly after Tom made his complaint, Dr Churchyard was under police investigation, however that didn’t stop him from practising as the Medical Board agreed that he could continue treating patients under the supervision of a chaperone.
Despite these conditions, Dr Churchyard allegedly assaulted a second patient and wasn’t suspended from practice until another complaint against him was made.
Shortly afterwards, in 2016, Dr Churchyard took his own life after facing charges of indecent assault.
“The medical board and regulatory bodies are kind of failing to serve their key purpose, which is to protect patients, and I feel very strongly about that,” Tom said.
It’s because of this belief that Tom, now working as a lab assistant and DJ, continues to advocate for change to prevent further sexual assaults from happening in the health setting.
“One thing that’s quite amusing to me is, if a teacher had these kinds of allegations made against them, they wouldn’t be teaching and the fact that doctors seem to be held to a different standard is ridiculous – so I feel very, very strongly about advocating for change in this space,” he said.
During a six-month investigation of Australia’s health regulation system, the ABC’s Four Corners program found there were four convicted paedophiles working as registered doctors in Australia, and almost 500 practitioners who’d been found to be involved in sexual misconduct with patients. Over a third of publicly disciplined practitioners were still on the national register.
And while there are regulators like AHPRA, HCCC and OHO in place to investigate complaints, they only have the authority to make recommendations, which professional boards or councils can choose to take on board.
An AHPRA and National Boards spokesperson told news.com.au the Churchyard matter had been the “catalyst” for the regulator to change how cases like Tom’s were handled.
“More needed to be done to protect patients and we needed to play our part, so we commissioned an independent review,” they said.
The Paterson review, which AHPRA commissioned in August of 2016, was one of the first evaluations to consider when it is appropriate to impose a chaperone condition on the registration of a health practitioner under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct.
A year later, AHPRA and the National Board suspended the use of historical chaperone restrictions, replacing them with “more effective” arrangements. Those new measures included gender-based restrictions, restrictions on patient contact, or suspension of the doctor’s practice.
“Before the Paterson review, only 15 per cent of practitioners requiring regulatory action to protect the public following allegations of sexual boundary offences were suspended,” the spokesperson said.
“Today 52 per cent of practitioners warranting immediate action measures are suspended.”
Additionally, cases of doctors being referred to tribunals for boundary violation concerns have increased from 26 cases a year to 43 as a result of the Paterson review.
Since the review, the spokesperson said, the system had been overhauled in a number of other ways as well.
These include a new specialist, national committee of the Medical Board of Australia to make decisions about boundary cases, audits on open alleged sexual misconduct notifications and the creation of specialist teams within AHPRA to investigate complex sexual misconduct and serious boundary violation notification matters.
The Notifier Support Service (NSS) has also been established to support notifiers, as well as witnesses involved in the notifications process and subsequent legal proceedings.
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“Our priority has always been to protect the public and make healthcare safer,” the spokesperson said.
Ultimately, Tom just wants those responsible for implementing change to “stop pointing fingers” and continue working on solutions that will see more doctors found to be doing the wrong thing suspended.
“It’s astonishing that doctors who have notifications made against them about sexual crimes are allowed to practise at all,” he said.
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