Paramedic reprimanded for professional misconduct

09 Dec 2024

A tribunal has reprimanded a Queensland paramedic and put conditions on his registration for acting outside his scope of practice and failing to keep adequate records.

In June 2019, Roy Vanderberg, an advanced care paramedic working in regional Queensland, performed an episiotomy on a woman who was giving birth. The episiotomy was unnecessary, performed without any or any appropriate pain relief, was excessively large, caused ongoing issues for the woman and nicked the baby’s scalp.

When Mr Vanderberg and his partner arrived at the hospital, he did a verbal handover to the hospital staff. About 24 hours later, his partner completed an electronic Ambulance Report Form (eARF) for the mother, but an eARF was never completed for the newborn.

The QAS notified the Office of the Health Ombudsman (OHO), who referred the matter Ahpra and the Paramedicine Board of Australia (the Board). The Board took immediate action in the form an undertaking from Mr Vanderberg to not practise as a paramedic.

In June 2020, the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) terminated Mr Vanderberg’s employment having found that he had failed to comply with QAS Clinical Procedure Physiological Cephalic Birth and had practiced outside of his credentialed scope of practice by performing the episiotomy.

When the Board referred Mr Vanderberg to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (the tribunal), it alleged that he had behaved in a way that constitutes professional misconduct and unprofessional conduct. In finding those allegations proven, the tribunal reprimanded Mr Vanderberg and imposed conditions on his registration.

Mr Vanderberg must successfully complete a Board-approved program of education and be mentored for six months by another registered health practitioner focusing on a paramedic’s permitted scope of practice and record keeping obligations.

In imposing the conditions, the tribunal noted Mr Vanderberg had not worked as a paramedic since 2019, which had given him time to reflect on his actions and develop his insight into the importance of record keeping and his profession’s scope of practice.

The tribunal also noted that: ‘It is critical to the public’s confidence in our health system that attending paramedics act in accordance with established procedures, particularly when managing unusual and stressful cases, to ensure the best outcomes possible for patients. Acting within established scope of practice and in accordance with the QAS (or other operative) guidelines helps to achieve this position.’

Read the tribunal’s full decision on AustLii.