A former kidney transplant surgeon who had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a woman he operated on and who later committed suicide has been reprimanded and disqualified from applying to become a doctor in Australia for two years.
Dr Andrej Grajn’s relationship with the successful civil servant known only as HBM lasted between about February 2016 and September 2017, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) has found.
HBM’s sister told QCAT that her sister told her that Dr. Grajn “held her hand when she woke up (from a kidney transplant) and immediately started telling her romantic things, like how he was the only person who owned her organs and that no one knew her like him.”
In a ruling dated November 17, but only published last Friday, QCAT judge John Robertson ruled that ‘almost immediately after’ Grajn operated on HBM, his behavior ‘indicated a clear sexual interest’ in her.
‘On October 12, 2017, HBM died by suicide under the most gruesome circumstances. A number of Council witnesses make a connection in their statements between the relationship with the defendant and the death of HBM,” Robertson writes.
Surgeon Dr Andrej Grajn (pictured), who had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a woman he operated on and who later took her own life, has been banned from practicing as a doctor in Australia for two years
Grajn worked as a kidney transplant surgeon at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, assisting with “life-saving” operations at HBM and “allowing an inappropriate relationship to develop very shortly afterwards”, the tribunal found.
Mr Robertson said Grajn’s relationship with the woman was “clearly inappropriate” because there was a power imbalance when she was a patient.
‘Although HBM was not a typically vulnerable person (she was a professionally experienced woman who held senior positions in the Queensland Public Service), the significance of the operation in improving HBM’s quality of life indicated an inherent vulnerability of HBM and the resulting resulting power inequality.’ decision stated.
‘The tribunal is satisfied that an inappropriate relationship was entered into by (Dr Grajn) while (the woman) was still recovering from surgery in hospital.’
Mr Robertson added: ‘The evidence shows that she trusted and held him in high regard at the time.
‘Not only did he fail to appreciate the unethical and unprofessional nature of his conduct from the outset, but throughout the investigation he revealed a complete lack of understanding of the importance of not exploiting a patient, and subsequently a former patient, which led to a sexual relationship. which clearly had a profound effect on her, but which he regarded as unimportant.
“The effect the relationship had on HBM’s mental state and HBM’s tragic death are evidence of why professional boundaries must be maintained between physicians and patients,” he wrote.
The tribunal also ruled that it was clear that the tragic death of a ‘highly capable and well-loved woman’ was the result of serious psychological problems in her final months.
“It is clear that this distress was in some way related to her relationship with the respondent (Grajn),” it said.
Mr Robertson said Grajn’s relationship with HBM was long-term and intimate and the surgeon ‘shows a distinct lack of remorse or insight’.
The tribunal also heard HBM told her psychologist about her sexual relationship, while receipts showed she and Grajn had gone to Canberra together and stayed in a single room at the Hyatt Hotel.
One of her colleagues said they believed Grajn ‘groomed and manipulated’ the woman while she was emotionally vulnerable.
HBM also allegedly told her best friend that she had sex with Grajn while on a European holiday and was disappointed when the relationship was not later ‘rekindled’.
The patient’s widower also gave evidence to the tribunal.
Grajn denied that he had acted inappropriately or engaged in misconduct – which the tribunal rejected.
During the hearing last September, Grajn attempted to discredit HBM’s widower for “initiating the investigation as a form of baseless personal revenge.”
Dr. Grajn worked as a kidney transplant surgeon at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital (pictured) and assisted in “life-saving” operations at HBM and “allowed an inappropriate relationship to develop very shortly afterwards”, the tribunal found.
He also “consistently maintained that his ‘relationship’ with HBM began after their therapeutic relationship ended and that his private life is irrelevant and outside the jurisdiction of the regulators and the tribunal,” Robertson said.
The tribunal found that ‘a period of disqualification is necessary to make the respondent (Grajn) aware of the significance of his deviations from professional standards’.
Dr. Grajn obtained his medical qualifications in Slovenia in 2005 and was a transplant surgeon at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital between 2015 and 2017.
He then left Australia to work in Slovenia before moving to Manchester, England and subsequently working for the charity Doctors Without Borders.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he currently works at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
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