A GP who had a sexual encounter with a patient outside of work has won another legal fight after a court rejected the Medical Board of Australia’s attempt to suspend him under emergency powers.

The long-running legal saga began in 2019 when police arrested the doctor after the patient complained the encounter in a nightclub toilet had been non-consensual and violent.

The subsequent rape charges against the doctor were dropped in August 2020, with the GP then asking the board to lift its emergency suspension, which had been put in place to protect public safety and maintain community confidence in health services.

The board refused.