A feted surgeon told patients they were “connected for life”, making some patients feel dependent on him and scared to risk the therapeutic relationship, a judge has found.

Adjunct Clinical Professor Munjed Al Muderis told osseointegration patients over dinner they were “family”, and they would need him if something went wrong, Justice Wendy Abraham concluded as part of the doctor’s failed defamation case against Nine.

The judge said patients considering osseointegration — a technique for integrating bone onto the surface of a prosthetic without soft tissue in between — needed to know about the “darker side of his practice“, including instances of poor care.

One osseointegration patient, Billy Wynne, said he felt “essentially married” to Professor Al Muderis and responsible for maintaining the relationship “to ensure I still had a doctor to take care of me”.