A doctor kissed a female patient without her consent and tried to have a sexual relationship with her in return for paying for prescription drugs, knowing she had drug addiction problems, a tribunal has heard.
Dr. Attila Danko, a former GP based in Melbourne, faced the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal over allegations relating to a female patient with whom he had a personal relationship from July to September 2019.
The pair had met at a nicotine law reform conference in August 2017, and met again about a year later when they went out for dinner.
They kissed at the end of the evening but the woman, who cannot be identified, said she did not want to continue the relationship and they broke up.
They reconnected online in May 2019.
It was during this period that the tribunal found that Dr Danko had ‘failed to maintain professional boundaries’ with the woman by pursuing an ‘intimate and sexual’ relationship with her and making ‘uninvited physical and sexual contact’ .
The tribunal heard several allegations, including Dr Danko offering to pay for medicines in exchange for a ‘sexual or sugar dating relationship’.
Dr. Attila Danko, a former GP based in Melbourne, faced the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal over allegations relating to a female patient with whom he had a personal relationship from July to September in 2019.
The doctor was investigated by the Medical Board of Australia and deregistered in August 2020.
The tribunal heard that Dr. Danko, after the pair reconnected, offered her to live in his guest room while she visited Melbourne to study in August 2019.
It was during this time that Dr. Danko allegedly kissed the patient without her consent after writing her scripts for codeine, Valium and CBD, a chemical found in cannabis, the tribunal said.
‘He held me and had his arms around me as he kissed me. So I couldn’t get rid of it either,” the patient told the tribunal.
‘I remember him shaking at that. It was really horrible and he did it for a really long time and it was really gross and I hated it.
‘It was really weird and it just felt really awful. It was really invasive.”
The tribunal said it was ‘comfortably satisfied that Dr. Danko used the treatment relationship to attempt to establish an intimate and sexual relationship with the patient by offering to pay for cannabidiol for the patient if she had a sexual or sugar dating relationship with him. .
But the doctor denied that he used the treatment relationship to enter into a sexual relationship with the woman.
He also denied offering to pay for CBD if she had a sexual or sugar dating relationship, or kissing her without her consent.
Dr. Danko had both offered to write the patient’s CBD prescriptions and pay for them, the tribunal found.
Dr. Danko had both offered to write the patient’s CBD prescriptions and pay for them, the tribunal ruled
The tribunal found that Dr Danko had ‘failed to maintain professional boundaries’ with the woman by pursuing an ‘intimate and sexual’ relationship with her and making ‘uninvited physical and sexual contact’ (text messages sent by Dr. Danko are shown in blue)
“He suggested that as part of the deal to get the cannabis, we could enter into some sort of sex work-sugar dating relationship. I cannot remember his exact words,” the woman told the tribunal.
Dr. Danko admitted that he “pressured” the patient for intimacy and had also “considered” the possibility of a sugar date relationship with her.
He had told the patient that if she stayed with him it would be as friends only, but admitted that he hoped the relationship would be romantic.
On August 17, 2019, he texted the woman with the message: ‘And yes, I want to help you. Without any expectation of sexual favors.
“Now drop that completely.
“I think I offered too much and expected too much in return, and both of those things need to be reversed if we’re going to move forward in a way we’re both comfortable with.”
The tribunal said it is ‘comfortably satisfied that Dr. Danko sought a sexual relationship in exchange for paying for the patient’s CBD.
Dr. Danko claimed the woman agreed to kiss him, but after the encounter she sent him a message that read: “I’m exhausted from days of talking about your life, relationships, sexual needs and feeling pressured am to do something versus I don’t want to. Unpleasant.
The doctor should also have been aware that the patient was ‘inherently vulnerable’, the tribunal ruled
“Having to kiss you after you wrote a script for my medication and gave me money to decorate my room was just so wrong.”
According to Dr. Danko’s version of events said he kissed her and asked if it was better than their first kiss, to which she replied “yes.”
The doctor should also have been aware that the patient was ‘inherently vulnerable’, the tribunal ruled.
She told him she was concerned about her health, was depressed, had post-traumatic stress disorder, had chronic pain and was a victim of sexual abuse.
The patient also told Dr. Danko that she had a history of drug addiction, substance abuse, accidental overdose and suicidality.
The case will be retried for an administrative hearing on May 22.
Dr. Danko now wears a mullet and regularly shares videos of himself performing songs on his acoustic guitar in northern NSW.