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A Melbourne surgeon filmed stomping on Kooyong MP Monique Ryan’s election sign and tutoring men on “how to bury the body” has been ordered by the health regulator to undergo mentoring to improve his communication with patients.
The regulatory action follows revelations in this masthead in April that Professor Greg Malham ripped the teal Kooyong MP’s election sign from a hedge, bundled it into the boot of a car and then addressed “the boys”.
The surgeon was seen ripping down and then stomping on the poster.
The incident was captured on a recording that went viral during the federal election campaign. A second video showed the neurosurgeon removing the corflute from the car boot, stomping on it and burying in under rubbish in a roadside skip.
“Just finishing the job, boys. Always gotta bury the body,” he says in the recording.
The regulator has placed conditions on Malham’s registration that state he must be mentored for 12 one-hour sessions over the next nine months.
The conditions, which were published online on December 10, state that this mentoring must address effective communication with patients exhibiting distress and postoperative pain, patient-centred communication and promoting and engaging in respectful relationships with colleagues.
Teal MP Monique Ryan. Credit: Eddie Jim
Following the corflute incident, Malham issued an apology and reported himself to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. In May, he left his job at the Epworth Hospital.
A few months later, the ABC reported that Epworth Hospital had referred complaints from a patient about Malham’s post-operative pain treatment to the regulator.
Malham said the mentoring requirement would improve the way he communicated.
“[It will ensure] I can be the best doctor I can and continue caring for people like I have done for the past 24 years,” he said. “I’m totally accepting. AHPRA were great.”
An AHPRA spokesman said decisions to impose conditions on a practitioner’s registration were made in the interests of public safety after careful consideration.
“Regulatory action is only taken when there is clear and considered evidence indicating that intervention is necessary to ensure safe practice,” the spokesman said.
He said confidentiality provisions limited what the regulator could say publicly about an individual practitioner.
An internal email sent to staff on May 16 from Epworth HealthCare chief executive Andrew Stripp said Malham had made the right decision to leave his job.
“Following the release of the video showing Prof Malham pulling down an election poster of Dr Monique Ryan, he decided to take leave while an independent external inquiry was commenced,” the email read. “During the course of the independent external inquiry, Prof Malham came to understand the impact his actions had on Epworth and our people.”
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Stripp told staff the incident had caused distress to many people within and beyond the Epworth, and that Malham had apologised to Ryan both publicly and personally, which she had accepted.
Ryan, who worked as a paediatric neurologist, researcher and professor before moving into politics, did not want to comment. At the time of the video’s release, she said it was deeply concerning.
“It’s creating a climate of hostility that is distressing to candidates, volunteers and the broader community,” she said.
Respect Victoria chair Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon previously described the video as a gendered threat towards a woman in public life.
“What we saw in that video was not just vandalism – it was a chilling display of misogyny and intimidation,” she said in April.
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