Today I report on a case from New Zealand decided on 12 April 2024. Clearly not ‘Australian’ law but relevant because paramedics in both Australia and New Zealand are now registered health professionals and the lessons identified in Bowen v R [2024] NZCA 106 will also be applicable in Australia

Mr Bowen was a registered NZ paramedic. At the time of applying for registration (2020) he failed to disclose his prior criminal convictions.  In 1994, Mr Bown, then known as Michael Gosnell, was sentenced to two years imprisonment for ‘unlawful sexual connection’ ([3]). He changed his name in 2010.  He was, at that time, working as a paramedic and operating his own private ambulance service ([4]). In 2020 Mr Bowen was required to apply for registration as a paramedic. He completed the registration forms and answered ‘no’ to the question ‘Are you under investigation by the police or have you been convicted of any offence against the law in New Zealand or any other country?’  In support of his application for registration he provided a criminal history check but when applying for the check he failed to disclose his previous surname so the check came back with no prior convictions ([5]-[14]).

Mr Bowen was ‘hoist on his own petard’.  He had received a speeding ticket when driving one of his own ambulances and indicated that he wanted to defend it. In preparing for that case police obtained a full criminal history that revealed his earlier conviction and imprisonment. The police became concerned that even with that history, Mr Bowen had been registered as a paramedic ([15]-[16]). Further investigation led to Mr Bowen’s arrest and subsequent conviction for ‘dishonestly using a document to obtain valuable consideration’ the document being his application for registration where he gave a deliberately false answer.  Upon being charged Mr Bowen did advise the Paramedic Council of his prior conviction and his ongoing registration was denied.

Mr Bowen appealed his conviction raises issues of errors in the police evidence that do not need to be reported here.  The Court of Appeal rejected the argument that the errors by the police meant his trial had miscarried. The Court said (at [36]):

There is, in our view, an irresistible inference from all the other evidence that Mr Bowen knew that disclosure of his previous convictions would likely jeopardise his chances of getting registration and so deliberately and dishonestly completed the two forms with the intention of deceiving the Paramedic Council for his own benefit.

Discussion

An essential aspect of professional registration is honesty.  A person must be able to take a registered health professional at their word. There have been other cases reported here where it is a failure to disclose some offending conduct, rather than the conduct itself, that has been the reason for a paramedic’s de-registration (see for example Paramedic disqualified for 2 years over driving offences and for driving an ambulance whilst disqualified (March 27, 2024); Tasmanian paramedic banned for 2 years (February 11, 2024); Paramedic suspended for 12 months for dishonesty (October 31, 2023)).

In this case it is probably not the case that had he been honest about the prior conviction he would have been registered. The conviction for ‘unlawful sexual connection’ was probably (but not necessarily) a permanent bar to conviction. Once it was disclosed Mr Bowen’s application for registration was rejected. This case shows another cost in that Mr Bowen not only lost he registration he was also charged with a criminal offence and sentenced to perform ‘100 hours community work’ ([1]).  His conviction for this offence would be a further bar to future registration.

When it comes to professional practice, both in Australia and New Zealand, honesty is the best policy.

This blog is made possible with generous financial support from the Australasian College of Paramedicine, the Australian Paramedics Association (NSW), Natural Hazards Research Australia, NSW Rural Fire Service Association and the NSW SES Volunteers Association. I am responsible for the content in this post including any errors or omissions. Any opinions expressed are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or understanding of the donors.