Media Release
3 July 2008
Doctor convicted for illegal PBS prescribing
The Minister for Human Services, Senator Joe Ludwig, has praised Medicare’s anti-fraud operations after the conviction of a doctor in the Brisbane District Court today.
The 40-year-old doctor received a 12-month suspended sentence for illegally prescribing drugs under the Australian Government’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
“The doctor will also have to repay the money her activities cost the Australian taxpayer,” Senator Ludwig said.
“The Government’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme saves Australian patients billions of dollars each year, by subsidising medicine that would otherwise be too expensive for many to buy.”
“This case shows Medicare is working hard to protect the integrity of the public health system, which helps millions of Australians each year,” Senator Ludwig said. The South-East Queensland doctor pleaded guilty to prescribing drugs to patients not entitled to receive them at the PBS subsidised rate.
The doctor has been ordered to repay $27,821.93, the total of PBS benefits given to patients as a result of her incorrect prescribing of restricted pharmaceuticals, Anastrozole and Selegiline.
Anastrozole is restricted for the treatment of hormone-dependent breast cancer in post menopausal women, while Selegiline is restricted for late stage Parkinson’s disease.
The Brisbane court was told the doctor prescribed Anastrozole for elderly men to increase testosterone levels and prescribed Selegiline for anti-ageing purposes.
A Medicare investigation found the illegal prescribing took place in Renew You medical clinics at Broadbeach, Ashgrove and Redland Bay between August 2002 and November 2004.
Today’s sentencing follows last month’s jailing of a Queensland pharmacist for deliberately defrauding the PBS, the result of another Medicare Australia investigation.
The pharmacist from Clermont, in central Queensland, was sentenced to four-andhalf years’ jail after pleading guilty to fraudulently obtaining $400,000 worth of PBS benefits to which he was not entitled.
“These cases send a clear warning to anyone thinking about abusing the PBS or other vital Government programs,” Senator Ludwig said.
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