Allegations of Abuse
in Institutions |
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Dr Selwyn Leeks, the psychiatrist
accused of mistreating young patients at Lake Alice Hospital in Manawatu in
the 1970s, has handed in his medical licence in Australia, on the eve of a
disciplinary hearing against him. Dr Leeks was due to have appeared
before Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria panel on Wednesday to answer
charges of professional misconduct, the New Zealand Herald reported today. But on Tuesday Dr Leeks, who is in
his mid-70s, gave the board an undertaking that he would stop practising any
form of medicine. If he had been found guilty his
medical registration could have been revoked. Board spokeswoman Nicole Newton
said last night this was effectively an international ban because to be
registered elsewhere Dr Leeks would need a certificate of good standing from
the Victorian board. If he tried to resume practising,
the hearing would be re-activated. Dr Leeks headed Lake Alice
Hospital's child and adolescent unit, which closed in the late 1970s. In
2001, the Government gave apologies and compensation to a group of former
patients of the unit. It later extended these to a second group, bringing to
$10.7 million the total paid to 183 people. |