By Violet Li
The director of Hampton Park Women’s Health Clinic has been suspended, following the death of a woman after surgery in January.
Narre Warren South woman and a mother of two Harjit Kaur died shortly after a pregnancy termination surgery in Hampton Park Women’s Health Clinic on 12 January.
The Department of Health suspended the clinic’s registration as a day procedure centre on 29 February.
On 15 March, the Medical Board of Australia suspended the registration of obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Rudolph Lopes, who performed the abortion surgery on Ms Kaur.
Just recently, the authority suspended the clinic director Dr Michelle Kenney.
The reasons behind the suspensions have not been revealed and a spokesperson of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) said they could not comment about matters relating to individual practitioners beyond information already disclosed on the public record, including the register of practitioners.
Prior to the recent suspension, Dr Kenney had conditions imposed on her registration between November 2022 and December 2023 that only allowed her to practise during daytime hours between Monday and Friday and must not exceed three shifts per week of eight hours duration each shift. She was also only allowed to work under the supervision of another registered medical practitioner during the period.
Dr Kenney told Star News in March that it was due to personal health issues.
At the time, she said the clinic did not commit any medical misconduct and the suspension of the day surgeries had something to do with the paperwork and administrative issues, instead of the death of Ms Kaur.
She also claimed that the suspension of Dr Lopes had nothing to do with Ms Kaur’s death.
Dr Kenney said she could not comment on the recent suspension on her as there are legal proceedings in place.
According to the public Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) record, Dr Lopes was found to have engaged in professional misconduct on 19 October 2021.
He was reprimanded over lewd remarks to a patient and long-term sexual harassment of a midwife.
VCAT stated that Dr Lopes must be required to work in a supervised environment under specific conditions and the conditions lapsed in December 2023.
Star News is not suggesting Dr Michelle Kenney, Dr Rudolph Lopes, or any other doctor or staff member at the clinic are responsible for the death of Ms Kaur. A coroner’s investigation is underway into the cause.
Suresh Rajan, a spokesperson for the bereaved family of Miss Kaur, said the husband was still struggling terribly.
“One of the reasons why he’s struggling is that the coroner still has not been able to come up with a definitive reason for her death,” he said.
“They promised that it would be done in the middle of April. Then they asked for more time. Now they’ve come back with a toxicology report, but nothing determines the cause of death.
“They will send the toxicology reports to further experts to get more analysis.”
Mr Rajan also said the problem was they could not apply for probate and get access to entitlements with the workplace of Ms Kaur until they secured a death certificate that showed the cause of death.
“I just think we’re at that stage where we just want answers because that gives us closure,” he said.
“We just want to ensure that no one else has to deal with an issue like this ever again.”
The family also believed that another doctor in connection with the clinic had been suspended.
