Doctor deregistered after he told patient she would die after vax

Stephen Hindley was this year hauled before the medical board to face five allegations of professional misconduct and unprofessional conduct as a result of a consultation with the patient, identified as AB, and a series of anti-vaccination social media posts which were deemed to be obscene.

During the proceedings in the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, it was alleged that Mr Hindley expressed views on the COVID-19 to a patient during a consultation in September 2021 that had no proper clinical basis, were misleading and untrue and were communicated in an aggressive and intimidating manner.

The patient told the tribunal Mr Hindley had called her stupid for receiving the vaccine and told her she would eventually get cancer and die as a result of it, which he denied.

She said he had told her that he hoped her children had not received the vaccine due to the risk of long-term damage to them.

The tribunal heard that after Mr Hindley received notification from Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency about a complaint against him, he accessed AB's contact number from clinical records held by the practice he worked at and phoned her about the complaint.

She said she had not made the complaint, but had spoken to others about the consultation so it could have been anyone.

The tribunal found there was no clinical reason for Mr Hindley to access her contact details and it crossed privacy boundaries.

An allegation that Mr Hindley was abusive, offensive and intimidating towards AHPRA was proven by the tribunal.

It heard Mr Hindley told officers they "barely qualify as human beings" and told individual officers they were lazy, weak, uneducated and "a government stooge".

The fifth allegation that Mr Hindley engaged in professional misconduct through a series of anti-vaccination Facebook posts was proven.

In one particular post, he said that doctors who administered COVID-19 vaccines have "had a lobotomy", were war criminals or were devils.

As a result of the five proven allegations, Mr Hindley has had his doctor's registration cancelled and cannot apply for registration as a health practitioner for four years.

He is also prohibited from using the title of "doctor".