A Victorian pharmacist who swapped out narcolepsy medication for similar looking vitamin D tablets as part of an experiment has had his registration cancelled.
Mina Tawadros has also been disqualified from applying for registration for 12 months for the "experiment" as well as inappropriate behaviour with three female clients and inappropriate dispensing.
Mr Tawadros was referred to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal following numerous complaints to Pharmacy Board of Australia.
The tribunal found he targeted vulnerable, single women with complex medical needs.
In November 2019, he failed to supply a prescribed medicine to a patient for the treatment of her narcolepsy.
Instead, he substituted Vitamin D tablets, which looked similar to the medicine prescribed, and did not tell the patient that he had done so.
Not long after he made the swap, she had an incident of suddenly falling asleep while driving.
Luckily she was able to recover before an accident, but it caused her great distress.
Later, Mr Tawadros told the woman's doctor he made the change because he did not think she should be taking sedatives with narcolepsy medication.
Other witnesses spoke of instances where he crossed professional boundaries, including sexual.
Three women said he insisted he deliver medication to their homes and then engaged in social and personal conversation, and in some occasions would try to hug them.
He also contacted the women via social media, asking them for dates and sending messages including "do you like to make love" and "I want to feel all of you".
Mr Tawadros sent one of the women personal and sexual Facebook messages for a year, and hugged and kissed her on the occasions she did go to the Bittern pharmacy where he worked.
He told her she could sell one of her medicines on the street and in early 2019, he dispensed double the quantity of Panadeine Forte prescribed for her.
In early 2019, she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital as she was so stressed by what Mr Tawadros had said to her.
In her witness statement, she said she felt ashamed and that he exploited her vulnerable state for his own sexual gratification.
The tribunal found Mr Tawadros' conduct was inconsistent with the codes of conduct and ethics for the profession and exploited the power imbalance between himself and his patients.
It also noted that for Mr Tawadros to be registered in the future, he would need to satisfy the board that he was a fit and proper person to practise as a pharmacist.
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