Bacchus Marsh obstetrics director ‘will never practise again’
The case against Dr Surinder Parhar raised questions about a doctor's responsibility for bad outcomes when working in a dysfunctional system
The director of obstetrics at Bacchus Marsh Hospital, where 21 perinatal deaths occurred, will never practise again after being banned from reapplying for registration for 12 years.
The case against Dr Surinder Parhar was about the extent of individual responsibility in a healthcare service “where systemic dysfunction is adversely affecting patient outcomes”, according to Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
But it concluded that “poor working conditions do not excuse substandard clinical practice”.
A cluster of deaths at the hospital, 50km from Melbourne, led to a high-profile Victorian Government investigation, which found seven between in 2013 and 2014 were avoidable.
