A Queensland nurse who unlawfully injected botox into a patient without consulting a doctor or obtaining a prescription has been banned from practising for at least two years.
Investigations by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra), on behalf of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, found Thia Sullivan also created false records in relation to the cosmetic treatments and provided false and misleading information and documents to Ahpra investigators on three occasions in September 2019 and March 2020. She also discouraged her patients with co-operating with a police investigation.
During the investigation, the NMBA placed interim conditions on Ms Sullivan’s registration on 5 September 2019 before later suspended her nursing registration on 13 February 2020 due to suspected non-compliance with those conditions.
The matter was referred to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, with the hearing held in September last year.
The tribunal heard that in August 2020, November 2020 and in March 2021, Ms Sullivan continued to practice as a nurse while suspended and administered cosmetic injectables to a patient when not authorised to do so.
It was further alleged that in late August and/or early September 2021, Ms Sullivan tried to discourage two of her patients from co-operating with Queensland Police in their investigations into her conduct.
In 2022, Ms Sullivan pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Magistrates’ Court to one charge of not being endorsed to possess a restricted drug and three counts of administering a restricted drug to another.
The tribunal found Ms Sullivan guilty of all six allegations and professional misconduct.
“This is a case where general and specific deterrence are both important…. because of her decision previously to not accept her suspension and act accordingly, and secondly, there is a public interest in sending a clear message to practitioners and members of the public, that such disregard is unacceptable and will have consequences,” the tribunal said.
Ms Sullivan had her registration cancelled and is banned from reapplying for registration as a nurse until 29 September 2027. She is also prohibited from providing any health service, including cosmetic injectables, until she is re-registered.
Ahpra CEO Justin Untersteiner said the tribunal’s decision was a good example of why Ahpra and the National Boards recently introduced tough new guidelines to clean up the cosmetic injectables industry, including registered nurses now needing at least one year of general or specialist practice before they can perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures.
“We have been concerned about the cosmetic injectables industry for some time, and that is why we introduced sweeping changes to their enforceable guidelines in September this year to ensure patients have additional protections and that practitioners do not undertake procedures inappropriately,” he said.
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia Chair, Adjunct Professor Veronica Casey, advised patients to check the register of practitioners before undergoing treatments to ensure their practitioner is not suspended or has conditions on their registration. “The Board is pleased with the Tribunal’s decision to ban this practitioner for a further two years for practicing while suspended. The Board takes its obligations seriously and only suspends practitioners when there is clear evidence their conduct is inappropriate and a risk to public safety,” she said.
