A prominent Sydney plastic surgeon, Dr William Mooney, has been found guilty of professional misconduct and unsatisfactory conduct by the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal, following the deaths of two patients and a relationship with another patient.
The tribunal heard that Mooney performed operations in an “astonishingly short” time on patient A, a 2018 snoring surgery that began at 3.05pm and ended by 3.38pm. Expert evidence described this as “basic intern- or first-year-doctor-level management”, noting the procedure normally takes about 90 minutes. Mooney did not review patient A for two days, and the patient later died from massive haemorrhaging and multiple organ failure on 3 March.
Patient B, aged 41, underwent sinus treatment in November 2017. Despite a complex procedure on a patient with prior surgeries and inflammatory disease, Mooney left after 25 minutes. Mooney admitted he should have exercised greater caution, stating he used “sharp and dangerous instrumentation at the base of the skull in a high-risk position”.
Mooney was also found to have lied about a relationship with a patient, exchanging 3,425 text messages and 807 phone calls between October 2013 and January 2016. He denied prescribing weight loss medication Duromine to the woman, who had a history of eating disorders. The tribunal concluded his conduct was sufficiently serious to justify suspension or cancellation of his registration.
