Dr Ali Araghi ran a clinic on the Sunshine Coast…but was just suspended for several inappropriate actions towards his patients and staff.

• Dr. Ali Eghtesadi Araghi was stripped of his medical license
• He ran a general practice and beauty clinic on the Sunshine Coast
• READ MORE: Dramatic car chase on the Sunshine Coast

A Queensland doctor has been suspended after a court found he had a threesome with female patients and subsequently paid $19,000 to keep quiet.

Dr Ali Eghtesadi Araghi faced the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) for his conduct between 2014 and 2018 while managing the Sunshine Coast Family Clinic and the Australian Wellness & Cosmetic Institute in Buddina.

Dr. Araghi has been a registered medical practitioner in Australia since 2006 and works as a general practitioner specializing in cosmetic procedures.

“The applicant (Queensland Health Ombudsman) alleges and the respondent (Dr Araghi) admits that he was guilty of professional misconduct by failing to maintain professional boundaries with three of his patients,” a recently released QCAT decision said.

“He (also) violated appropriate professional boundaries by engaging in sexualized behavior toward several of his co-workers.”

In addition to these three allegations, five other allegations were made before the court, alleging that Dr. Araghi behaved “inappropriately, sometimes sexually” and “unprofessionally” towards staff.

“This conduct included sexualized and/or inappropriate touching of the buttocks of female employees and making inappropriate comments toward them,” said former District Judge John Robertson.

In one of the incidents, he touched a female employee’s breast without her consent and then asked her to expose her breast in front of another employee in an unoccupied consulting room.

Judge Robertson said it could be assumed that his questionable conduct towards employees only stopped when the notifications were sent to the regulator.

“In my opinion, his conduct towards these women, most of whom were highly qualified health professionals, in itself constitutes professional misconduct,” he said.

According to the QCAT decision, the first of the three patients with whom Dr Araghi behaved inappropriately was a woman with whom he had entered into a relationship in 2014 before treating her as a patient and later employing her on his staff.

“He now accepts that he behaved unprofessionally towards her,” the decision states.

“(He) violated professional boundaries by touching her bottom, kissing her in front of patients and staff, having sexual intercourse in the clinic, and on occasion abusing her in a degrading and controlling manner in front of staff and patients.”

The second patient was a woman he had been treating since 2012 before having a sexual relationship with her between May 2016 and around August 2017.

“It was evidently clear to him from the beginning that a sexual relationship with her was inappropriate. However, he continued with it anyway because she agreed to it,” the decision states.

He had sex with the two women “in one incident” and then “compounded his seriously unethical behavior by telling clinic staff about what is described in the material as a threesome.”

The second woman later demanded $50,000, “which could be described as a threat of extortion,” or she would report him to the medical board.

Dr. Araghi reported the incident to the police, but then “inappropriately and unethically” paid the woman $19,000 and made her sign what “today would be called a non-disclosure agreement.”

The third patient was a 26-year-old woman who visited his clinic for the first time in 2013.

“The defendant used her mobile phone number, obtained from her medical records (as described by Patient 3 in her affidavit), to relentlessly pressure her into a romantic relationship, which did not materialise,” the QCAT decision states.

Since notifying the regulator in 2018, Dr Araghi has been subject to a one-year ban on contact with female patients, followed by a requirement that a practice observer must be present in the room during consultations with female patients from 2020 to 2023.

Judge Robertson said: “The court is satisfied, under the relevant standards, that the defendant’s admitted and proven conduct towards patients and members of his staff over many years constitutes professional misconduct.”

“The defendant has cooperated adequately in this proceeding … numerous witnesses were not subjected to cross-examination and a three-day hearing is not required.”

“Given the age at which the conduct occurred (approximately six years), no specific deterrent is required. … The sanction must have a general deterrent effect.”

Dr. Araghi’s registration has been suspended for 10 months.