Victorian doctor banned from practising for failing to ‘ensure safe care’ amid baby deaths at hospital

Tribunal makes misconduct findings against Dr Lee Gruner, saying she failed to ensure clinical services were delivered safely at Bacchus Marsh hospital

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A doctor has been barred from practising medicine for 10 years for professional misconduct during a cluster of potentially preventable stillbirths and newborn baby deaths at a Victorian hospital.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Vcat) found Dr Lee Gruner failed to ensure the safe delivery of clinical services at Bacchus Marsh hospital between 2009 and 2015, during which time a number of babies were stillborn or died. The hospital was operated by Djerriwarrh Health Service at the time and Gruner was the hospital’s consultant medical services director.

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