A NSW surgeon has been found guilty of professional misconduct after her treatment of 13 patients including a man who died following a catastrophic surgical error, and a woman whose bowel cancer was missed during a rushed colonoscopy. The case raises serious questions about patient safety and the legal rights of those who may have received negligent medical care.
Dr Liu-Ming Schmidt had her medical registration suspended for six months by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The tribunal found that Schmidt had spent as little as five minutes performing colonoscopies on patients at Albury Wodonga Health; a fraction of the time required to do the procedure properly.
Schmidt was first the subject of a 2023 investigation that uncovered a series of incomplete colonoscopies she performed or supervised between 2018 and 2022. Around 2,000 of her patients were recalled, with 1,084 undergoing repeat colonoscopies. Seven of those patients were subsequently diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
One of the most serious findings involved the death of a 79-year-old man in November 2019. Schmidt was on call when the man arrived at hospital with a life-threatening bowel perforation. During emergency surgery, she attached a colostomy bag to the wrong end of the bowel, causing a complete mechanical bowel obstruction.
What made this even more troubling was what happened next. Schmidt admitted she did not see the patient for several days, despite knowing he was acutely unwell and working in the same hospital. When she was alerted to her error, she failed to adequately disclose it to the patient or his family. The tribunal described this as the most egregious aspect of her conduct.
Another key case involved a woman referred to as Patient A, who first saw Schmidt in 2017 following a positive bowel screening result. Schmidt performed four colonoscopies on Patient A between November 2017 and January 2022.
In February 2022, Schmidt performed a gastroscopy and colonoscopy. Just three months later, Patient A was admitted to hospital with severe iron deficiency anaemia. A PET scan identified an abnormal mass, and a subsequent colonoscopy by another surgeon found a 5.5-centimetre adenocarcinoma – a tumour that, the tribunal noted, could not have grown to that size in only three months.
The tribunal agreed with an expert witness that Schmidt had failed to detect the tumour during her February procedure, which was performed too quickly. Her records didn’t even confirm that the colonoscope had reached the caecum, which is a basic requirement for a complete colonoscopy.
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Get startedSchmidt admitted to failing to take adequate time to perform colonoscopies for eight patients. The time she spent on seven of those procedures ranged from just 5 to 10 minutes. She spent only 16 minutes performing both a colonoscopy and gastroscopy on one patient combined.
To put that in context: colonoscopy withdrawal alone should typically take around eight minutes. Medical experts told the tribunal that rapid withdrawal significantly increases the risk of missing lesions, which is exactly what appears to have happened in multiple cases.
The tribunal found that Schmidt’s conduct represented a serious departure from accepted medical standards. While the Health Care Complaints Commission sought a one-year suspension, the tribunal opted for six months, acknowledging that Schmidt had made genuine efforts to address the issues, including completing a colonoscopy recertification program and returning to practice under supervision.
Cases like this are a stark reminder that patients have legal rights when medical care falls below an acceptable standard. If you or someone you love was among the roughly 2,000 patients recalled following the investigation into Dr Liu-Ming Schmidt, or if you’ve experienced harm as a result of a negligent medical procedure, you may be entitled to compensation.
Law Partners Medical Negligence Lawyer Elizabeth Utting put it plainly:
“All patients would assume that by consulting a specialist and undergoing a procedure by that specialist, that the doctor has the necessary skill and takes the necessary time to provide proper patient care. It is always deeply concerning to hear of doctors such as this one who are practising medicine without seemingly proper care for their patients.”
Elizabeth is right. When you put your health in a doctor’s hands, you deserve to know they’re giving you their full attention and expertise. When that doesn’t happen, and when it causes harm, the law is there to protect you.
If you believe you’ve received negligent medical treatment, whether related to this case or another, we’re here to help. Our team at Law Partners has extensive experience in medical negligence claims, and we’ll take the time to listen, explain your options, and guide you through every step of the process. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation.
