Nurse disqualified for two and a half years for professional misconduct

15 Jul 2020

A tribunal has disqualified a nurse for two and a half years for criminal conduct and working under the influence of illicit drugs.

Mr Konstantin Bezmylov became involved in selling and using illicit drugs while he was employed as a registered nurse at a South Australian hospital in 2012.

Between 2012 and June 2015, Mr Bezmylov on several occasions performed his duties as a nurse whilst under the influence of illicit drugs including cannabis, ecstasy, methamphetamines and steroids. He became indebted to others due to his drug usage and neglected his duties as a nurse in order to pay back his debts.

In June 2015, Mr Bezmylov was arrested and charged with several offences including trafficking a controlled drug, possessing controlled drugs and offences relating to firearms and offensive weapons. He later pleaded guilty to these offences in the District Court and in November 2016 was sentenced to imprisonment for five years and three months with a non-parole period of three years. Mr Bezmylov failed to notify the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) of his convictions.

The NMBA suspended Mr Bezmylov’s registration on 12 June 2015. The Board referred the matter to the to the former South Australian Health Practitioners Tribunal on 4 February 2019. The matter was then referred to the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (the tribunal) on 8 August 2019.

On 14 November 2019, the tribunal found that Mr Bezmylov’s criminal conduct, his failure to notify the NMBA of his convictions and his intoxication and neglect of duties in the workplace all constituted professional misconduct.

The tribunal reprimanded Mr Bezmylov, cancelled his registration and disqualified him from applying for registration as a health practitioner for two years and six months.

The tribunal noted that it was particularly concerning that Mr Bezmylov performed his duties as a nurse whilst affected by illicit drugs. The tribunal concluded that Mr Bezmylov is recovering from a drug addiction and that recovery needs to be progressed before he could be considered fit to work as a nurse again.

The tribunal found it appropriate that he be disqualified from re-registration for the remainder of his parole.

The full decision is published the Austlii website.