Justice Robert Beech-Jones found the Western NSW Local Health District did not have to award Dr David Amos procedural fairness concerning an investigation and a warning letter regarding conduct towards other staff at Orange Health Service since July last year.

The incidents included two disagreements on appropriate patient treatment between Dr Amos and Dr Gordon Flynn and a conversation between Dr Amos and Orange Health Service general manager Catherine Nowlan about his suspicions a member of staff was accessing patient files where he described himself as not “f..king insane”.

There was an additional incident in February where Dr Amos disagreed with a health and safety officer and sent her a formal apology.

Dr Amos submitted procedural fairness was required in the decision to give him a warning letter after the February incident, which threatened disciplinary action if there were further code of conduct breaches, and as part of a report prepared by Associate Professor Christopher Zeitz, which considered complaints from Dr Amos and Dr Flynn.

But Justice Beech-Jones found procedural fairness was only required if the health district decided to suspend Dr Amos. 

However, he noted if procedural fairness had been required at the completion of the Zeitz report, the obligation would have been breached because it made a number of findings about Dr Amos, which went beyond matters raised in letters or in his interview with the author.

“For example, the Zeitz report made a generalised criticism that Dr Amos was dismissive of the opinions of others. Neither this criticism nor its basis was raised in the interview with Dr Amos or in correspondence in advance of the Zeitz report,” the judgment said. 

“Further, in relation to [the patient], the letter only made complaint about Dr Amos’ conduct towards Dr Flynn and not about his clinical treatment of the patient overall. Yet the Zeitz report was highly critical of Dr Amos’ treatment.”

The judgment said there was potential for a breach of natural justice if the warning letter or the report were treated as “determinative” of the matters they referred to.

Dr Amos must pay the health district's costs.