GP allowed to continue prescribing drugs despite ban

A doctor has been allowed to continue prescribing drugs of dependence by a court despite being temporarily banned by the medical board for allegedly enabling a patient's addiction.

Julian Fidge is a GP based in Wangaratta, northeast Victoria, where he treats patients with chronic pain, on opioid programs and those pursuing voluntary assisted dying, the Supreme Court was told.

In December 2022, he was restricted from prescribing some drugs to his patients until he had his practice audited and underwent further education after a Medical Board of Australia investigation.

An emergency department doctor had reported Dr Fidge as he became concerned the GP was enabling a patient's drug dependency, after Dr Fidge sent a patient whom he was treating for mental illness to a hospital to get more diazepam.

Over 18 months the board investigated whether Dr Fidge's prescribing practices were appropriate with that patient.

It cautioned him and imposed conditions on his registration that prevented him from prescribing Schedule 4 drugs of dependence and Schedule 8 medications until he completed education over three months and was audited.

Dr Fidge is yet to begin any of the recommended education as he told the court it would be "deliberately humiliating" and said he'd sooner never prescribe the relevant drugs rather than complete it.

He applied to Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal to review the board's decision, and also asked for the restrictions to be stayed pending a hearing, but this was rejected.

Dr Fidge then appealed VCAT's decision to the Supreme Court, arguing he had complex patients and it was dangerous or counterproductive for them to stop receiving prescriptions from him.

He said there was little capacity in Wangaratta for other doctors to absorb his patients as they did not have the same experience as he did with chronic illness, opioid diversion and assisted dying.

Justice James Gorton granted him a stay on Thursday, allowing Dr Fidge to continue prescribing the drugs until the VCAT hearing.

"On the material presently available, in my judgement the risk to the public of granting the stay is outweighed by the other considerations referred to," Justice Gorton wrote in his decision.

The judge noted that Dr Fidge did not assist the board in its investigation, as he refused to provide clinical notes about his patients on the grounds it could incriminate him.

The GP told the board he had the files ready, but they would need a warrant for him to produce them.

Justice Gorton said he believed Dr Fidge refused to provide the files because "he did not want to make the board's job easy".