Dr Ali Araghi ran a Sunshine Coast clinic… but he’s just been suspended over several inappropriate acts involving his patients and staff

A Queensland doctor has been suspended after a court heard he had a threesome with patients and then paid $19,000 to keep it secret.

Dr Ali Eghtesadi Araghi was summoned to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) over his conduct between 2014 and 2018, when he ran the Sunshine Coast Family Clinic and The Australian Wellness & Cosmetic Institute in Buddina.

Dr Araghi has been a registered medical specialist in Australia since 2006 and worked as a general practitioner with an interest in cosmetic procedures.

‘The applicant [Queensland Health Ombudsman] claims and the defendant [Dr Araghi] admits that he committed professional misconduct by failing to maintain professional boundaries with three of his patients,’ according to a recently published ruling by QCAT.

‘He [also] failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries by engaging in sexual conduct with several of its employees.’

In addition to the trio, the court heard five other allegations, namely that Dr Araghi had behaved in an ‘inappropriate, sometimes sexualised’ and ‘unprofessional’ manner towards staff members.

‘This conduct included acts of sexualized and/or inappropriate touching of the female staff members on their buttocks [and] “He made inappropriate comments to them,” said former District Judge John Robertson.

In one of the incidents, he touched a staff member’s breast without her consent and then asked her to expose her breast in an empty consultation room in the presence of another staff member.

Judge Robertson said it “can be inferred” that his questionable behaviour towards staff members only stopped after the regulator was notified.

“In my view, his conduct towards these women, most of whom were highly trained health care providers, in itself constitutes professional misconduct,” he said.

According to the QCAT’s decision, the first of the three patients Dr Araghi behaved inappropriately towards was a woman with whom he had a relationship in 2014, before treating her as a patient and later entering employment.

“He now acknowledges that he behaved unprofessionally towards her,” the ruling said.

‘[He] ‘He failed to maintain his professional boundaries by touching her on her buttocks, kissing her in front of patients and staff, having sexual intercourse in the clinic and occasionally abusing her in a demeaning and controlling manner in front of staff and patients.’

The second patient was a woman he had been treating since 2012, after which he had a sexual relationship with her between May 2016 and August 2017.

“He seemed to realize from the beginning that it was inappropriate to have a sexual relationship with her. Yet he continued to do so because she consented,” the ruling said.

He had sex with the two women “in one incident” and “made his behavior even more unethical by telling clinic staff about what is described in the materials as the threesome.”

The second woman later demanded $50,000, which “could be a threat of extortion,” or she would report him to the medical board.

Dr. Araghi reported the matter to police but then “inappropriately and unethically” paid the woman $19,000 and made her sign “a confidentiality agreement.”

The third patient was a 26-year-old woman who first visited his clinic in 2013.

‘The defendant used her mobile number, obtained from her medical records, to persistently pursue her (as Patient 3 describes in her sworn statement) to enter into a romantic relationship, which did not materialise,’ the QCAT ruling said.

QCAT heard in one of the incidents he touched a staff member’s breast without her consent and then asked her to expose her breast in an empty consultation room in front of another staff member

Since the regulator was notified in 2018, Dr. Araghi has been banned from contacting female patients for one year. In addition, a practice monitor must be present if he consults female patients from 2020 to 2023.

Judge Robertson said: ‘The court is satisfied that the defendant’s admitted and proven conduct over many years in relation to patients and members of his staff, on the basis of the relevant standard, amounts to professional misconduct.’

‘The defendant has cooperated reasonably well in these proceedings… numerous witnesses have not had to be questioned and a three-day hearing is not required.’

‘Given the age of the conduct, some six years ago, the need for specific deterrence is not substantial… The need for the sanction to have a general deterrent effect is significant.’

Dr. Araghi’s registration was suspended for 10 months.