Criminal Convictions of Disciplined Health Practitioners in New Zealand.
J Law Med
; 29(1): 117-128, 2022 Mar.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35362282
ABSTRACT
This study investigates the rates and types of criminal convictions encountered by New Zealand's Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal (HPDT) over a 15-year period. Criminal convictions appeared in 24% (n = 101) of cases, with male practitioners (p < 0.01) and pharmacists (p < 0.05) being significantly over-represented. The most frequent types of convictions included crimes against rights of property (33.6%), sexual/morality/decency crimes (21.9%) and misuse of drugs (8.4%). Criminal behaviour settings were evenly split between personal and professional life for medical practitioners (56.5% professional life) and nurses (56.5% professional life) but disproportionately in professional life (85%) for pharmacists. Criminal conviction cases were significantly more likely to result in registration cancellation (p < 0.001) and practice suspensions (p < 0.05) when compared with non-criminal cases, although fewer fines were ordered (p < 0.001). Profession-specific risk factors, alongside how to rehabilitate members of the subgroup who may later seek to renew their practice are areas for further research, are discussed.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Criminals
Type of study:
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Oceania
Language:
En
Journal:
J Law Med
Journal subject:
JURISPRUDENCIA
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
New Zealand