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Following a string of failed surgical proceedures
in the 1980s controversial Dr Ian McGoldrick was
barred from practising medicine although this did
not stop him from doing so. He was associated with
two hospital companies during the 1980's that were
each briefly the largest in Australia. He
contributed to the demise of both and was involved
in a string of other questionable corporate
endeavours. Everything he touched turned to tears
for those his charisma won over.
(1971
to 2005)
Health and Life Care (HLC)
Superclinics
Supercare
& many more
In writing about the leaders of health care corporations in the USA I suggested that the market selected for people whom I called closed minded. These were people poorly suited to the health care marketplace even though it often made them very wealthy.
These people had enormous energy and great charisma but readily became welded to a particularly narrow system of understanding and could not see anything which did not fit within it. Their actions were fused by their perspective and were implemented regardless of logic or evidence that this was wrong. They were unable to accommodate to the uncertainty of conflicting understanding as this undermined their total self confidence. When forced to confront contradictions they responded with aggression. They seemed unable to reflect and redefine their belief systems once they were established.
At the extreme end of this spectrum are the sociopaths who see everything within the frame of their own interests and are impervious to the views or interests of others. Some are very successful. They have a unique ability to persuade others to their simplistic point of view.
Whether any Australians health care entrepreneurs fit this mold is a matter of opinion but two doctors, Edelsten and McGoldrick must be candidates.
In exploring the history of corporate health care in Australia I was fascinated by the press reports about Dr. Ian McGoldrick who was closely associated with two of the larger companies in the 1980s. These were Consolidated Health Care (CHC), and Life and Health Care (HLC).
Dr. Ian McGoldrick, a plastic surgeon and a gynaecologist has wreaked his share of havoc in the corporate world and has left a trail of debt and bruised individuals behind him. One can only speculate whether in the USA he would have succeeded in building a massive empire. Even there his behaviour may have been excessive.
Unlike his US contemporaries he continued to practice medicine both when registered and when unregistered. In addition Australia, particularly conservative Melbourne was not yet ready for the sort of aggressive and unprincipled entrepreneurialism he displayed. The medical profession acted to constrain him and other companies did not welcome him to their boards. He remained persuasive and succeeded in persuading others, including the church to trust his enterprises with their money. He was the ultimate con artist.
McGoldrick's incredible story includes his role as a plastic surgeon and gynaecologist where his surgical endeavours and controversial practices were associated with multiple complications and vast numbers of lawsuits. When investigated by the Medical Council he allowed his medical registration to lapse and then spent 20 years attempting to have the council register him again, and appealing their refusals to do so. That he was not registered did not stop him from practicing illegally. He was also found guilty of Medicare fraud.
McGoldrick's business dealing are as interesting and controversial as his medical career. After qualifying in Medicine in 1971 he rapidly built up CHC, Australia's largest health care company, one with low occupancy and poor profits. A superb con artist he sold CHC to another company HLC which ultimately became bankrupt as a consequence of the losses. CHC was found to be a facade.
McGoldrick was a bankrupt for 6 years but this did not stop him from involvement and later conflict with the infamous Geoffrey Edelsten in developing chains of medical clinics owned by the McGoldrick family. Soon after his bankruptcy ended he was again caught up in a fraud involving a complex tangle of companies and nonexistent directors. He was not cowed by this and in 2004 he emerged as a property owner and developer.
Press reports provide a window into his personality.
McGoldrick, a builder who studied at nights to become a doctor, has suffered from some bad publicity over the past two years, attracting headlines about fat-removal operations and abortion claims. At one stage McGoldrick sought help from public relations consultant Martin Dougherty.
1988 Background
Entrepreneur Caught In Hospital Mess Business Review Weekly April 15, 1988
During that year his insurance company settled "a mountain" of claims by disgruntled patients in out-of-court settlements, Mr McGoldrick said.
1998 Patients
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The tribunal heard Mr McGoldrick has been diagnosed as a manic depressive suffering from bi-polar disorder.
MEDICAL FRAUD'S FIGHT TO PRACTISE. Herald-Sun July 14, 1998
The Supreme Court of Victoria heard in 1988 that Mr McGoldrick had threatened a real estate agent with a tomahawk. He was revealed that year to have $60million in debts.
1998 Unpredictability
New Bid To Ban Doctor? The Age September 19, 1998
Ms Lechner (psychologist appearing for Mcgoldrick) said McGoldrick had immense drive and energy, that he was a fighter and "a bit of a rebel".
2004 Psychology
She said she did not believe he had a personality disorder but might have a cyclothymic mood disorder, characterised by elevated mood swings, increased energy, grandiosity and an over-inflated self view. These periods alternate with depression where energy and drive are low.
Ms Lechner said she believed McGoldrick had matured and showed insight and remorse for his actions.
Unregistered doctor treated hundreds, tribunal told The Age December 7, 2004
"The applicant is willing to go to whatever lengths it is necessary, and carry out whatever deception is necessary, in order to achieve his goal of reregistration," he (review tribunal chief) said.
2004 Dishonesty
Doctor fails in licence bid The Age December 15, 2004
Despite his jovial manner, the powerfully built man was under strain, and showing it; his ruddy complexion turning an angry lobster red as the case against him grew more damning; his massive builder's hands and wrists falling out of his suit, at odds with his quiet voice and soft, grey pinstripe.
2004 Character sketch
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But the self-styled entrepreneur has survived worse in a career punctuated by bankruptcy, criminal and civil convictions, coronial inquiries, allegations of stealing a patient's child, performing abortions on under-age schoolgirls, being shunned by the medical fraternity and a tidal wave of negligence suits and legal action.For sheer drama, McGoldrick's story is hard to beat.
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Part of the answer may lie in his admission to the tribunal that back in the '60s he was diagnosed with a mood disorder that witnesses said left him with tremendous reserves of energy, supreme self-belief, a lack of insight and a feeling of invincibility.Through it all, McGoldrick has always maintained that he is "a good doctor". He blamed greedy and litigious patients. He blamed envious medical colleagues and he blamed the media for a conspiracy he believed was orchestrated against him. He blamed everyone but himself.
Doctor in trouble The Age December 17, 2004
McGoldrick was a self made man and no one can question his dedication, work and energy. His motivation was labelled as greed but this is facile. In my view these people are driven by an intense drive to realise themselves and their ideas through action. Within the context within which they find themselves this is accomplished by commercial and financial success. The burning pressures are so great that they are blind to anything outside their narrow focus and fail to see that their means of attaining success are inappropriate and damaging to others.
I like to think that if detected early then in some individuals their enormous energy might be harnessed for benefit. Perhaps this might happen if they were put in a different context where success was defined differently, and where they were constrained by an insightful community, and provided with opportunities for positive contributions for which they were praised. Destroying their credibility and the status they crave by isolating them serves only to drive them into further dysfunction and eccentricity.
In a conservative town where old-boy, public-school ties dominate the medical fraternity, McGoldrick - the son of a Melbourne builder who worked as a welder and matriculated at night school - was an outsider.
2004 Looking back - the social context
Former colleague Chris Atkins, now a country GP and lawyer, says: "Ian is incredibly bright and very charismatic. He was pretty much always controversial, even at medical school. Ian was flamboyant and he certainly wasn't establishment."
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"One of the things that upset his senior colleagues was the fact that Ian used to drive around in a Bentley when most of the senior blokes in the profession were driving around in their Holdens and their Fords."
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Looking back at the extraordinary roller-coaster ride of his life, how do you understand the conundrum that is Ian
Doctor in trouble The Age December 17, 2004
Mr McGoldrick was registered as a medical practitioner in December 1971. Within a decade he had established Victoria's biggest private hospital empire, but went bankrupt.
1998 Early success
New Bid To Ban Doctor? The Age September 19, 1998
McGoldrick built up a large group of hospitals and nursing homes under the name Consolidated Health Care (CHC). He certainly did not have much money of his own and must have persuaded others to back him financially. He established a network of indebted companies which funded his empire - a group of hospitals and nursing homes with low occupancy and poor profitability. His personal debts were $60 million. When he later entered bankruptcy the company was found to be a front only.
Like the entrepreneurial high fliers of the '80s, the young medical graduate looked around at his industry and saw that there was money to be made. Big money. And not just by the usual routes of consultancies, medical appointments and salary packages, but by owning the facilities.
2004 Review of CHC's rise and fall
With a tight-knit circle of family members he began buying nursing homes a year after graduating from Monash University in 1971. Within a decade, he was the country's biggest private hospital owner with 45 private hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and 10,000 employees across four states and Papua New Guinea that was worth about $180 million. He had an estimated personal fortune of $45 million. And he was just 38 years old.
Entrepreneurial medicine was new to Melbourne and colleagues eyed McGoldrick's aggressive business style and new-found interest in cosmetic surgery and weight-reduction patients uneasily.
"He was very unMelbourne," Atkins says. "There was a lot of sniping and the establishment did its best to shut him out.
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But by then it was the '80s, a heady era of financial optimism where a property boom and dizzy interest rates of 18 per cent arrived on the heels of the longest bull market of the century. The stockmarket was at record highs and banks were lending heavily. Gold fever was in the air and everybody, it seemed, was making money.
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McGoldrick knew the value of operating outside the media spotlight, quietly amassing an empire of private hospitals and nursing homes. He didn't mind borrowing big and expanding quickly, branching out into laundry, catering and pathology services - all servicing his own facilities. By the mid '80s, cosmetic surgery and the new procedure of liposuction were becoming lucrative. And there was an endless supply of women who were desperate to be "transformed".
-----------------------------
McGoldrick then filed for bankruptcy, announcing that his $180 million Consolidated Healthcare Group had collapsed and was $60 million in debt.Auditors sifting through the company found it was just a business name. The $180 million in assets were owned by a maze of 70 companies enmeshed in mortgages, trusts and leases. McGoldrick swapped his Rolls Royce - seized by creditors - for a Commodore, telling debtors that he didn't have a cent.
Doctor in trouble The Age December 17, 2004
In 1987 McGoldrick put CHC up for sale securing a positive review of the business by Price Waterhouse. It was later alleged that Price Waterhouse’s review was based on information supplied by McGoldrick and not on their own examination of the business. They were sued for their misleading report by the liquidators of Health and Life Care, which bough CHC from McGoldrick. I do not know the outcome.
Hospitals of Australia (HOA) was interested but after an investigation of CHC, HOA reduced its offer from $110 million to $93 million. HOA specified that McGoldrick who was already a controversial figure have no part in management. McGoldrick rejected the offer and persuaded recently listed Health and Life Care (HLC) to buy the business for $118 million. HLC had recently listed on the share market and were enthusiastic and gullible.
HLC did not have the capital for this purchase. If they had used shares to purchase the hospitals then McGoldrick would have had a 59% controlling holding in HLC which they did not want. McGoldrick lent James Kellie, HLC’s founder and chairman $25 million to buy a larger holding. This was to be paid back in stages. McGoldrick still had a substantial holding.
Dr. Ian McGoldrick surprised a private investment trust yesterday by announcing that he had sold his 21 private hospitals to an Adelaide-based company for $118 million.
1987 Sells to HLC
DOCTOR SELLS OFF HIS CHAIN OF 21 HOSPITALS Sydney Morning Herald March 24, 1987
Mr Grant Smith, general manager of APA Oceanic Funds Management Ltd, said two months of intensive checks by the company's accountants, Arthur Young & Co, had found that the $110 million valuation placed originally (by its company HOA) on CHC could not be justified.
1987 HOA had reservations about CHC
---------------------------------
"We had also stressed throughout our talks that we would not allow any involvement in the future management, policy or control of hospitals by Dr. McGoldrick," Mr Smith said
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Some 21.4 million shares (45 per cent of the issue) will be purchased by Mr Jim Kellie, the managing director and major shareholder in HLC, leaving Dr. McGoldrick's group with a minority interest.
Health And Life Care Acquires CHC Assets Australian Financial Review March 24, 1987
"The group (HOA) can now pick and choose higher quality acquisitions rather than being lumped with some possibly more marginal assets which were part of the (Consolidated Health) group," he said.
1987 Concern about CHC's facilities
Hospitals Of Australia Back On The Road To Recovery Australian Financial Review June 12, 1987
Health and Life Care Ltd finalised its purchase of Consolidated Health Care Group in March with the final settlement yesterday giving it ownership of another 21 hospitals with a further 780 beds.
1987 Sale to HLC finalised
HLC Ties Up 21-hospital Deal For $57m Australian Financial Review June 19, 1987
The HLC story is a story of deception, conflict and legal battles between aggressive entrepreneurs. One can only ponder how a health service that our community had developed to alleviate the illnesses and suffering of vulnerable citizens was caught up in and dominated by all this. It had nothing to do with their welfare and everything to do with the greed and egos of the contestants in the marketplace. Sadly it was an indication of the way health care was going in Australia.
HLC was founded by James Kellie in the 1970s and had operated as a private company for 14 years when it was caught up in the corporate enthusiasm of the mid 1980s. It was eager to expand and listed on the share market in 1986 to raise capital for this.
HLC immediately embarked on a rapid mostly debt funded expansion program to buy and build new hospitals.
In 1987 HLC grabbed CHC’s 21 hospitals making CHC for a while Australia’s largest private hospital operator. Whether this purchase is a measure of McGoldrick’s persuasiveness or Kellie’s gullibility is not clear.
At this time US hospitals owned by dubious companies like American Medical International and National Medical Enterprises in Singapore were making record profits from wealthy Asians and insured travelers. Moran Health had decided to compete by building a medical palace on the Gold Coast and HLC did the same in Darwin. Neither succeeded and the Americans went home after their infamous business practices were exposed. In 1987 the state owned South Australian government's Insurance Commission took a 9% stake in HLC to facilitate the project in Darwin.
When Health and Life Care Ltd, an Adelaide business specialising in health and retirement, released its prospectus seeking $6 million on Tuesday it was swamped by investors and closed the prospectus within hours of opening.
1986 HLC background
--------------------------------
The company will have paid-up capital of $16.22 million, of which 63 per cent will be in the hands of the existing shareholders of the 14-year-old company.The largest shareholder, on 37 per cent, will be James and Lynette Nominees Pty Ltd, a company associated with the founder and managing director of Health and Life Care, Mr James Kellie.
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Health and Life Care operates in the Adelaide metropolitan area and already has two private hospitals, two nursing homes and one retirement village, valued at a total of $18.1 million.It has plans under way for another private hospital, another retirement village and medical centre and a third nursing home, the total cost of which is likely to be $3.4 million.
Shares In SA Health Group Snapped Up Australian Financial Review July 10, 1986
South Australian-based Health and Life Care Ltd has announced another major project, an $11 million private psychiatric hospital for Adelaide.
1987 Expansion
-------------------------
The company recently won a contract to build and operate the first private hospital in the Northern Territory and a 170-bed surgical/medical hospital is being built at Morphett Vale in South Australia.
$11m For Private Hospital Australian Financial Review January 12, 1987
Health and Life Care recently paid an effective $151,000 per bed for the 780 beds involved in its acquisition of the 21 hospitals of Consolidated Health, formerly owned by the controversial Victorian surgeon, Dr. McGoldrick and presumably of varying quality.
1987 Buying CHC
Health Incorporated Australian Financial Review August 3, 1987
- - - the Adelaide-based Health & Life Care Ltd bought McGoldrick's gross assets for $118 million, which after liabilities, meant a net acquisition of $57.2 million. - - - - - Jim Kellie, Health & Life's managing director, will lift his stake in the company to 40 by taking the remaining McGoldrick shares, bought by a private $25 million loan from the vendor. One condition of the deal was that McGoldrick have no board representation. He is looking for new investments. Minimum estimated net worth: $45 million.
1987 The CHC deal
Rich 200: Achievement And Money Business Review Weekly August 14, 1987
The South Australian State Government Insurance Commission has spent $7.2 million taking a 9 per cent stake in Adelaide-based Health and Life Care Ltd
1987 State government funds Darwin Private Hospital
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The $7.2 million will be used to complete construction of HLC's $25 million Darwin Private Hospital - the first private hospital in the Northern Territory.It is planned that the Darwin hospital will compete with US hospitals for surgery on patients from South-East Asia.
SGIC Takes $7.2m Stake In NT's First Private Hospital Australian Financial Review August 19, 1987
A South Australian listed hospital operator, Health and Life Care Ltd, will lease a substantial part of the Royal Darwin Hospital in a deal which could be duplicated elsewhere in Australia.
1987 The Darwin Private Hospital
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The lease expires in late 1988 when Health and Life Care's new 120-bed hospital, the Darwin Private Hospital Pty Ltd, is completed on the site adjacent to the Royal Darwin Hospital.
SA OPERATOR BUYS INTO DARWIN HOSPITAL Australian Financial Review November 19, 1987
Formed in 1984 to buy the businesses and properties of Mr Kellie and associates, Health and Life Care raised $6 million in a public subscription in June 1986 and embarked on an ambitious acquisition programme which saw it become the largest listed health care group in Australia.
1989 Overview
HEALTH AND LIFE SHARE DEAL Australian Financial Review May 4, 1989
CHC proved to be a poisoned chalice and HLC was soon losing money from unprofitable hospitals. It was unable to meet its debt payments. McGoldrick’s debtors came after HLC looking for payment. Kellie resigned as chairman and the general manager of the company left.
Health and Life Care Ltd reported an operating loss of $148,000 before extraordinaries for the half year to December 31 as costs of expansion ate up the company's profit.
1988 Losses and debtors
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Health and Life Care has been named as one of four defendants in a legal action brought by the lessors of the medical equipment in the hospitals previously owned by Dr. McGoldrick to recover arrears of lease repayments of more than $300,000.
HOSPITAL SALES TURN GROUP'S LOSS AROUND Australian Financial Review March 14, 1988
HLC managing director Jim Kellie also agreed at the time to buy back half the shares involved for $25 million over four years. This would ensure HLC's existing management retained control of the group. If the shares are not bought back, McGoldrick's holding would appear to be at least 59%.
1988 HLC in trouble and dispute with McGoldrick commences
The first $9 million payment to the McGoldrick camp, from one of Jim Kellie's companies, is due in June this year.
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The McGoldrick family would be paid $57 million in HLC shares, but half of these would be repurchased in instalments. Provided the payments were met, the McGoldrick side agreed to keep its voting rights below 50%.
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Fourteen months on, McGoldrick may not be paid out, but he could well gain a majority shareholding in Health and Life Care.But many of the group's 19 Victorian hospitals are running at occupancy levels far below the national average of about 50%. In fact, some of these establishments, which McGoldrick once described as "not the Regency or Menzies at Rialto", are 80% empty. Staff morale is low and key executives have left. Notable among these are former chairman Walter Stamm and former managing director Keith Smith.
Entrepreneur Caught In Hospital Mess Business Review Weekly April 15, 1988
Meanwhile, HLC has settled a long-running dispute with the finance subsidiary of NSW-based Manufacturers' Mutual Insurance over $500,000 in lease liabilities inherited in the takeover of Consolidated.
1992 Settling McGoldrick's debts
HEALTHIER HLC SEEKING FRESH EQUITY INJECTION Australian Financial Review March 11, 1992
Kellie refused to pay back the $25 million and HLC took McGoldrick to court claiming in excess of $40 million on the basis that HLC had been deceived. McGoldrick made a counter claim for over $80 million and ultimately entered bankruptcy. A bitter dispute followed.
Health and Life Care is seeking more than $40 million in damages from Dr. Ian McGoldrick, claiming that the Melbourne medical entrepreneur misrepresented the value of 21 hospitals he sold to HLC last year.
1988 HLC sues McGoldrick
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HLC is alleging that CHC made "misrepresentations and mis-statements concerning the profitability of the assets acquired", and also breached the sale agreement.
-----------------------------------
HLC also is seeking orders restraining Dr. McGoldrick from exercising any alleged rights under the sale agreement.
HLC SEEKS $40M DAMAGES FROM MCGOLDRICK Sydney Morning Herald May 26, 1988
It is understood this loan due from Mr Kellie had been assigned to Partnership Pacific to secure other businesses of Dr. McGoldrick.
1988 Deteriorating position
The HLC share price has since fallen to 50, and it is understood Partnership Pacific has only the 21 million shares, worth $10.5 million, as security on Mr Kellie's $25 million debt.
---------------------------------
Price Waterhouse prepared the report to shareholders on the sale of these assets - using information supplied by Dr. McGoldrick.
HOSPITALS GROUP IN COURT ACTION OVER ASSETS PURCHASE Australian Financial Review May 26, 1988
The owner of hospital operator Consolidated Health Care Group, Dr. Ian McGoldrick, will apply to the Federal Court to require Adelaide-based Health and Life Care Ltd to lodge $83 million worth of security for potential damages payments arising from litigation.
1988 McGoldrick sues HLC
HEALTH GROUP AFTER $83M SECURITY Australian Financial Review June 9, 1988
HLC was successful in gaining an interim order on May 23, 1988, to freeze the sale agreement.
1988 Sale frozen
HLC TO WRITE OFF $40M LOSS Australian Financial Review July 15, 1988
The longstanding legal battle between a Melbourne medical entrepreneur, Mr Ian McGoldrick, and the managing director of Health and Life Care Ltd, Mr Jim Kellie, was settled out of court yesterday with both parties withdrawing all allegations.
1989 Legal dispute settled
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Parties to the proceedings would not reveal the financial terms of the settlement, however it is believed that the $26 million owed to Mr McGoldrick by Mr Kellie for the purchase of shares in Health and Life Care will not be paid.
MCGOLDRICK-KELLIE LEGAL JOUST SETTLED OUT OF COURT Australian Financial Review February 7, 1989
The company’s two major shareholders were fighting a bitter battle and the company was paralysed. The Adelaide establishment and the company’s bankers came to the rescue establishing a new board to sort out the mess.
HLC wrote off the $40 million and started selling off its assets to reduce its huge debt. McGoldrick was so deeply in debt that prospects for recovering $40 million looked bleak
It was a case of too big too quickly for Adelaide-based Health and Life Care, and this week we should know just how it plans to regain some stability.
1988 Banks and local businesses step in
The Adelaide Establishment, with some encouragement from the banks, has taken control of the company's board and will start with some significant asset sales.
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Having no executives on the board is an attempt to stabilise the company, which has two major shareholding blocks: those of Jim Kellie (35 per cent) and Dr. Ian McGoldrick (25 per cent), who are at war.
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The SA Brewing clique has taken control, with former chief Jim Glidden as a consultant and Ray Foley (formerly head of Seppelts) to take the role as chief executive today.
IT COULD BE DIRTY WASHING DAY Australian Financial Review June 14, 1988
One of Adelaide's largest company's, Health and Life Care Ltd, will write off a loss of $40 million stemming from the purchase of assets from Dr. Ian McGoldrick's Consolidated Health Care as part of a plan to improve its performance.
1988 HLC writes off $40 million
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HLC indicated yesterday that the write-off would be in addition to trading losses incurred because the assets purchased from Consolidated had performed below expectations.
HLC TO WRITE OFF $40M LOSS Australian Financial Review July 15, 1988
HLC has already sold off some psychiatric homes, interests in nursing homes and is negotiating the sale of retirement villages.
1988 Selling assets
HEALTH & LIFE CARE REPORTS LOSS OF $43M Australian Financial Review September 27, 1988
The major factor in the poor result was the disappointing performance of 21 private hospitals purchased from the Consolidated Health Group in 1987.
1988 CHC performance dragging HLC down
SICKNESS CAN PAY WELL Sydney Morning Herald October 5, 1988
The problems encountered by Health and Life Care have managed to push the share price down to 25 cents from a high of $1.05.
1988 Share price down
HEALTHY FUTURE FOR PRIVATE HOSPITALS Sun Herald October 9, 1988
Adelaide's biggest corporate problem, Health and Life Care, continues to amaze the market and its shareholders with the number of skeletons in its closet.
1988 A corporate mess
The latest escapade, which comes close on the heels of the company's $3.3 million loss, is a decision to call a shareholders meeting to ratify two-year old loans.
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Why hadn't shareholders been informed previously?
BOURSE SAUCE : BETTER LATE THAN NEVER Australian Financial Review October 10, 1988
HLC sold all of its South Australian hospitals to the State Government Insurance Commission for $40 million. It sold its new Darwin private hospital and its NSW hospitals. It struggled on into 1993. An attempt by a company called Keygrowth to rescue the company by buying shares at 5 cents was unsuccessful and it entered receivership.
The board of directors of South Australian health care company, Health and Life Care Ltd, has agreed to sell its SA operations to that State's State Government Insurance Commission for $40 million.
1989 State government rescues HLC
HLC has also granted rights to the SGIC and merchant bank, Partnership Pacific Ltd, to acquire its Darwin Hospital.
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The former head of the Consolidated Health Care Group, Mr Ian McGoldrick, claims to have 52 per cent of issued capital and will not support the motion unless he is provided with full details of HLC's plans.
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If the asset sale goes ahead, the SGIC will acquire five hospitals, a retirement village and a laundry but will retain HLC as the manager of the assets.
HLC SELLS OUT OF SA TO CUT DEBT Australian Financial Review February 20, 1989
Since the end of the half, the company has sold its South Australian assets to the State's insurance commission for $40 million, after an earlier sale to a group headed by medical entrepreneur Ian McGoldrick broke down in litigation.
1989 It seems McGoldrick tried to buy HLC
HEALTH AND LIFE CARE GIVES REASONS FOR LOSSES Australian Financial Review March 15, 1989
The emergence of Westpac's wholly-owned merchant banking arm (Partnership Pacific Ltd) as a shareholder follows a series of asset sales by Health and Life Care and loans which are convertible into equity in a subsidiary of the company.
1989 Rescue efforts
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Under the refinancing, the SGIC and Partnership Pacific have advanced $14.3 million to Darwin Private Hospital as a three-year loan which can be converted into shares representing 51 per cent of Darwin Private Hospital.
HEALTH AND LIFE SHARE DEAL Australian Financial Review May 4, 1989
Two financial institutions have taken control of health care operator Health and Life Care Ltd.
1989 Government and private investors take control
Merchant bank Partnership Pacific Ltd has taken up 47 per cent of the issued capital and the State Government Insurance Commission of South Australia has taken almost 13 per cent.
Health and Life Care said in a statement issued yesterday that the shares were taken up "due to the default of" Victorian medical entrepreneur Dr. Ian McGoldrick.
INSTITUTIONS RESCUE HEALTH AND LIFE CARE Australian Financial Review May 5, 1989
Adelaide-based Health and Life Care Ltd has sold two of its eastern States hospitals for an undisclosed sum and expects settlement on the sale of two more later this month.
1989 Selling more assets
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The general manager, Mr Len Harper, said HLC also had plans to shut down all unprofitable operations soon.
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Before the SA sales, HLC's debt was about $85 million and its interest bill was about $12 million a year.But HLC still manages the hospitals for the SGIC under a valuable two-year contract.
HLC CUTS MORE DEBT WITH ITS HOSPITAL SALES Australian Financial Review August 4, 1989
High debt charges have led private hospital operator Health and Life Care Ltd to a pre-tax operating loss of $11.09 million in the year to June 30.
1989 Losses
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The asset sales would leave HLC with nine hospitals in Victoria, a 51 per cent interest in a Darwin hospital, and reduce debt to between $20 million and $25 million.
POOR RESULT FOR HEALTH, LIFE Australian Financial Review October 2, 1989
The private hospitals group Health and Life Care has made a profit of $964,000 for the June year, following a loss of $26 million previously.
1991 Still operating and a profit
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Over the past three years the group has pared itself back from owning 25 hospitals nationwide to only nine today, all in Victoria.
Health Group In Black After Hospital Sales The Age October 1, 1991
HEALTH and Life Care Ltd suffered a 3 per cent decline in pre-tax earnings for the year to June 30 because of a continued freeze in private hospital benefit payments and substantial cost increases.
1992 HLC still controlled by lending banks
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HLC has been operating under an interest moratorium with a syndicate of six banks for the past two years after coming close to collapse under debts built up during the takeover of Dr. Ian McGoldrick's Consolidated Health Care in 1988.
BENEFITS FREEZE, COSTS RISE HIT HLC Australian Financial Review September 15, 1992
Keygrowth has bought an undisclosed number of shares in Hawker Australia Ltd and 19.9 per cent of Health and Life Care Ltd, with an agreement to go to 48 per cent subject to shareholder approval, for a total cost of $622,000.
1992 Keygrowth attempts rescue
STRATEGIC EQUITY HAS KEYGROWTH LOCKED UP Australian Financial Review November 24, 1992
While the ASC would make no comment on the matter, sources said the commission had found "deficiencies'' in an information memorandum and independent expert's report prepared for the meeting.
1993 Rescue frustrated
The meeting was requisitioned by a substantial shareholder, Mr Geoff Lord's Keygrowth group, to vote on Keygrowth buying a further 28.4 per cent of the company. Keygrowth already holds 19.9 per cent.
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Without Keygrowth's bid, it said, the company's bank moratorium could expire and the company be placed into receivership.
ASC Halts Health Group Meeting The Age January 13, 1993
Victoria's third-largest private hospital chain, Health and Life Care, was placed in receivership yesterday after a last-ditch rescue by the former Elders Resources chief Mr Geoff Lord failed.
1993 Receivership
Lord Fails In Attempt To Save Health Group The Age February 24, 1993
The receivers sold the remaining Victorian hospitals to Medical Benefits Fund (MBF) for $13 million. In an attempt to recover more for the creditors they went after Price Waterhouse which had prepared the original report for McGoldrick.
The battle for control of the private hospital operator Health and Life Care spilled into the courts yesterday when Mr Geoff Lord's Belgravia Group lodged a writ against a rival bidder, Medical Benefits Fund.
1993 Keygrowth and MBF fight for HLC residue
The writ seeks a Supreme Court injunction to restrain MBF from going ahead with its takeover offer for Health and Life Care.
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Mr Lord launched the takeover offer for Health and Life Care, which has since been placed in receivership, late last year.
Writ Over Health Care Bid The Age March 26, 1993
Health and Life Care's (HLC) nine hospitals have been sold to NSW-based Medical Benefits Fund in a deal believed to be worth $13 million.
1993 MBF buys HLC and receivers sue Price Waterhouse
RECEIVERS of the failed South Australian private hospital company Health and Life Care Ltd have lodged a $105 million writ against the accounting house Price Waterhouse over an experts report prepared in 1987.
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The latest claim against Price Waterhouse alleges that the firm failed to exercise "due care and skill" in preparing the report and that it failed to review the books, records and accounting systems of the hospitals as a whole.
HOSPITAL RECEIVERS SUE OVER REPORT Australian Financial Review July 5, 1993
Soon after the troubles at HLC in 1988 McGoldrick entered bankruptcy. He continued to work for the medical businesses in which the rest of his family were involved. The extent of his involvement in management is unknown.
Dr. McGoldrick reportedly already owes about $60 million to more than 90 creditors - $23 million of which is owed to Partnership Pacific.
1988 McGoldrick's debts
Dr. McGoldrick has apparently placed his personal affairs into the hands of a trustee.
HLC TO WRITE OFF $40M LOSS Australian Financial Review July 15, 1988
The medical entrepreneur Mr Ian McGoldrick failed yesterday in a Federal Court bid to prevent his bankruptcy being extended until April 1994. Mr McGoldrick, who became a bankrupt in April 1989, was due to have been discharged in April this year, but his period of bankruptcy was extended following an objection from the official trustee. Mr Justice Gray said Mr McGoldrick had not shown grounds for setting aside the trustee's objection to his discharge.
1992 Bankruptcy extended
Bankruptcy bid fails The Age October 10, 1992
Mr McGoldrick was bankrupt from April 1989 until October 1995 after the failure of his private hospital group.
1997 Bankruptcy overview
Fraud Squad Acts On McGoldrick Collapse Sunday Age February 2, 1997
Ian McGoldrick’s family including his parents and two brothers, both doctors were involved in a chain of Medical Clinics. They were associated with the notorious Geoffrey Edelsten and helped him out when he was in trouble by buying "Superclinics". Once again their businesses were soon caught up in a bitter personal and legal conflict which had nothing to do with caring for the sick. McGoldrick and his family opened another chain Supercare and this too was soon in conflict with Edelsten. It was involved in a scandal when McGoldrick practised medicine when not registered as a doctor.
Dr. McGoldrick and fellow failed medical entrepreneur Geoffrey Edelsten were involved in a disastrous super clinic venture during the 1980s.
2004 Review Edelsten and McGoldrick
Doctor in hush-hush office deal Australian Financial Review October 7, 2004
But while he (Geoffrey Edelsten) appears to be in Melbourne exile, his spirit has never really left the remnants of his Sydney empire, which revolved around a company called Superclinics Australia.
1993 Superclinics - Edelsten's legacy and now McGoldrick's Supercare
Superclinics is the subject of a protracted tug-of-war as bitter as the stand-off between the Capulets and Montagus. The battle has been fought in various courts over the years and last week was once again before the NSW Supreme Court.
The matter involved the Commonwealth Bank, a group of Melbourne medical entrepreneurs - the McGoldrick family, father Oscar, mother Elsie, and their three sons Ian, Bryan and Peter - Mr Edelsten's former accountant, Bill Widin, and Superclinics managing director, Ian Ridden.
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So in 1985, purely as a cash drip, he (Edelsten) sold a major interest in Superclinics to the McGoldrick family of Melbourne for about $1.5 million.At the time, the McGoldricks were about to shed their numerous private hospitals and diversify into 24-hour medical centres which they saw as the great coming thing.
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The trust had been established to protect and isolate Mr Edelsten's assets from the Australian Taxation Office.
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But that is not the end of the affair. The McGoldrick family plans to open two new clinics, called Supercare, near the Superclinics at Baulkham Hills and Frankston.
FALL OUT Australian Financial Review May 27, 1993
The festive season is truly over in Frankston where the names of two marvels of medicine, ex-doctors Geoffrey Edelsten and Ian McGoldrick, are figuring in a feverish fight over a new clinic.
1994 The dispute
The McGoldrick clan's Supercare chain, where Ian McGoldrick works as a "handyman'', wants to open the new clinic at 82 Young Street but claims Edelsten forces have been spreading nasty stories.
The McGoldrick lawyer, Daryl Nolch, has sent letters to prospective objectors warning of legal action if anyone says, writes or implies "anything our client regards as slanderous or libellous''.
One accusation against the McGoldricks is that $60,000 rent was left unpaid when they quit premises in Wells Street, Frankston, four years ago.
This claim is supported by the building's agents, Commercial and Property Services, but denied by Supercare director Bryan McGoldrick, Ian McGoldrick's brother, who told Spy: "Absolutely wrong. We settled directly with the landlord. You're being led up the garden path by Edelsten's cohorts.''
Spy : What's up with the ex-docs? Sunday Age January 9, 1994
MORE work ahead for surgically trained handyman Ian McGoldrick, whose family's Supercare medical chain seems to have won its bid to open that clinic in Young Street, Frankston (Spy, 9 January). The council has just rubber-stamped the permit, allowing 21 days for objections (which may be few considering the warning from McGoldrick lawyers that they will sue anyone saying anything "which our client regards as slanderous or libellous''). Meanwhile, fellow ex-medico Geoff Edelsten, accused by the McGoldricks of marshalling forces against them in applying for the Young Street clinic, has protested that his hands are clean.
1994 Supercare grows
Spy : Pass the paint pot, nurse. Sunday Age February 6, 1994
It is not clear how much of this business was Ian McGoldrick’s endeavour as he soon became a bankrupt and was not registered as a medical practitioner for most of the time. He claimed that he was working for the family business as a handyman - and later that he worked in administration. This did not stop him from impersonating other doctors. He was convicted of practicing as a doctor in the family clinics when he was not registered. His conduct was exposed on television by channel 9 using an actress and a hidden video camera.
Meanwhile it is bib and brace for fellow ex-doc Ian McGoldrick, now claiming to be a "handyman'' with his family's Supercare clinics.
1993 The Handyman
Spy (Lawrence Money) Sunday Age September 12, 1993
Since 1988, Mr McGoldrick has been employed as medical director of Supercare Clinics in Melbourne, but told the Civil and Administrative Tribunal his position was administrative and did not involve providing medical treatment.
1998 and Administrator
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The tribunal said it was satisfied that Mr McGoldrick had purported to treat patients on at least six occasions, and that he used prescription pads of other doctors. It found Mr McGoldrick "has at the minimum been cavalier in respect of his obligation not to breach the Medical Practice Act''.
New Bid To Ban Doctor? The Age September 19, 1998
McGoldrick's bankruptcy lasted six years. He re-emerged as the medical director of the Supercare Family Medical Centres Group, bought in 1985 for $1.5 million from the receivers of failed Sydney medical entrepreneur Geoffrey Edelsten. Supercare quickly established a string of 24-hour clinics across Melbourne and Sydney.
2004 and unregistered practicing Doctor
It is at these clinics that McGoldrick admitted to treating up to 300 patients from 1993 to 1995. It is also where a Channel Nine current affairs "sting" occurred in which an actress was secretly filmed being treated and prescribed drugs by McGoldrick using the prescription book of his de facto partner, Dr. Frederique Bentley, who was employed at his clinic.
Doctor in trouble The Age December 17, 2004
McGoldrick lost his medical registration in 1988 but prior to that he pleaded guilty to Medicare fraud. Further allegations were made in 1990.
A medical entrepreneur, Dr. Ian McGoldrick, was remanded in the Melbourne City Court yesterday to appear on May 4 next year on 318 fraud charges.
1986 Fraud charges
REGULAR SHORTS : 318 fraud charges Sydney Morning Herald November 13, 1986
About a year earlier (1986), Mr McGoldrick was charged on 31 counts of Medicare fraud, fined $3100 and disqualified from taking part in the Medicare scheme for 12 months.
1998 Review of fraud convictions
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He was described in a 1990 Sydney court case as a "liar and dishonest'', with a witness telling the court Mr McGoldrick's affairs were notorious in health regulatory circles and that he had sent the Health Insurance Commission more than 500 documents that were believed to be false.
New Bid To Ban Doctor? The Age September 19, 1998
McGoldrick was a businessman and not surprisingly he turned his energies and his talents to other areas in the corporate world. These companies were linked to health care businesses and his medical clinic businesses. Once again it ended with large losses for others including the church.
Fraud investigators were left trying to disentangle a complex paper trail of linked companies, fake individuals and nefarious activities. I am not going to try to describe it all here. A few samples from the many articles will suffice. McGoldrick was a bankrupt from April 1989 to October 1997, the period when all this was set up.
THE corporate sleuths of Australia's largest finance companies have been left with furrowed brows and their companies out of pocket because of Andrew Scott and Alan Parker.
1997 A tangled web of companies
These two mystery figures - some say they are fictitious - are held responsible for losses to the Uniting Church, AGC, GIO and Orix Finance totalling more than $1 million.
There are those who say the debt could reach more than $2 million when the money trail is fully investigated.
Additionally galling to the paper-chasers is the web of corporate intrigue they have uncovered.
In search of a simple explanation for the failure of a company, Dolphinlight, to meet its payments in June last year, the AGC, GIO and Orix investigators kept running into blind alleys.
The Supreme Court of Victoria has been told of a corporate complex involving bogus directors, false addresses, missing accounts, fraudulent invoices for non-existent medical equipment and questions about the authenticity of companies in the Dolphinlight group.
The documents indicate that investigators were led a merry dance trying to establish the identities of directors and the whereabouts and authenticity of goods supposedly leased by Dolphinlight with up to $600,000 in finance-company money.
They could not find the directors of Dolphinlight, Mr Andrew Campbell Scott and Mr Alan James Parker and they have concluded that Mr Scott is fictitious.
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Shown invoiced copies of the equipment serial numbers, Medtel's sales manager, Mr Kevin Potter, told investigators he had not heard of Medical Ultrasonics, Messrs Scott and Palmer, Ms Hammer or Vearvich Pty Ltd.
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Frustrated, the investigators met Mr Bryan McGoldrick at Supercare headquarters in Mt Dandenong Road, Croydon. They were taken to a back room. There Mr Cryer told the court he saw several pieces of equipment ". . . which had the serial numbers removed and replaced with Dymo tape containing serial numbers that matched the serial numbers noted on the invoices".The equipment was seized and shown to Medtel's Mr Potter. He said it did not match goods described on the invoices.
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The Supreme Court was told that, in July last year, a McGoldrick company called Supercare Family Medical Centre Group Pty Ltd was appointed mortgagee in possession of Dolphinlight.
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Supercare is a company directed by Mr McGoldrick's younger brother, Bryan, who has been a director of 73 companies.The debenture documents, recorded by the ASC, show Mr Ian McGoldrick signed on behalf of Supercare as its medical director.
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Dr. Bhaskar said Nangola bought the Camberwell Hospital but he had to finance Traban to the tune of about $450,000 for the payment of the bed licence. "He took the company from me," he said. "He said he would give me first charge over the company - Traban. Ian McGoldrick, that's right . . . He walked away with $450,000."Mr Gerry Morrison, a spokesman for the Department of Human Services, said the licence to operate the Camberwell Hospital had been withdrawn after a review conducted between December 1995 and May 1996. Traban did not satisfy Government quality standards for facilities and service.
Great Scott! The Paper Trail To Nowhere Sunday Age February 2, 1997
THE Uniting Church and three of Australia's biggest finance companies are bracing themselves for losses totalling more than $1 million after the collapse of companies linked to the unregistered doctor and former failed medical entrepreneur, Mr Ian McGoldrick.
1997 Gullible losers
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Traban is in receivership with debts of more than $600,000 to doctors, nurses, tradespeople and the tax office.
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The Uniting Church lent the group more than $1.3 million through solicitors acting for agents of the Dolphinlight group. The church says it was unaware of the involvement of Mr McGoldrick and had received assurances that the identities of people involved with the transaction were genuine.
Fraud Squad Acts On McGoldrick Collapse Sunday Age February 2, 1997
He is now the subject of an investigation by Victoria's major fraud squad into the collapse of a series of companies with which he was linked.
1998 Fraud investigations
New Bid To Ban Doctor? The Age September 19, 1998
The Supreme Court heard details of a "corporate complex including bogus directors, false addresses, missing accounts, fraudulent invoices for non-existent medical equipment and questions about the authenticity of companies in the Dolphinlight group."
2004 The corporate tangle unravels
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McGoldrick's company structure - at last count there were at least 56 companies - is a mind-boggling maze of cross-ownership and interests that have confounded investigators, police and creditors for almost two decades.Members of his family - brothers Peter, Bryan and Ted, his sister Pam O'Connor, his former wife Claire Hemming and their five children, his current partner, GP and psychologist Bentley, and their two children, are all frequent entries in the merry-go-round of company positions.
Doctor in trouble The Age December 17, 2004
McGoldrick was never far from controversy. In the 1980s he was involved is controversy after controversy. As a plastic surgeon he enthusiastically embraced the new technique of liposuction allegedly making unrealistic promises. Patients claimed that the surgery was botched and that they were disfigured as a consequence. Press reports indicate that four people died and although the coroner found that no one was to blame, this is a large number of deaths for a procedure that was purely cosmetic.
There was at least one claim made by a gynaecology patient who claimed that her life had been ruined by complications following a hysterectomy which she did not need. These should certainly not have occurred.
There were large numbers of claims for compensation by his patients. This seems to have been so costly for his insurers that they refused to insure him further.
As one reads the reports one is reminded of the 2005 revelations about the character and surgery performed by Dr. Patel at Bundaberg in Queensland - a man who seems to have had a similar psychological makeup.
LIPOSUCTION
According to evidence to the tribunal from the medical board registrar, Mr John Smith, the proceedings included 28 County Court actions by former McGoldrick patients variously alleging that he had failed to obtain informed consent to perform liposuction and that he had negligently performed operations upon them and/or provided inadequate post-operative care for them.
1998 Lawsuits by patients
New Bid To Ban Doctor? The Age September 19, 1998
He later settled 80 negligence cases out of court and, in 1988, was charged with 500 counts of medifraud, of which he was convicted on 31.
2004 Review of negligence cases
Ex-surgeon admits lying to VCAT The Age December 8, 2004
But along with the long line of patients came the complaints: a rumble that eventually became an avalanche.
2004 Review of liposuction carnage
Then, in 1986, it all came unstuck.
The Medical Board began investigating 14 complaints. Legal firm Galbally and O'Bryan eventually handled 49 malpractice suits, estimating there were 80 cases from liposuction procedures that McGoldrick's patients claimed went badly wrong.
Photos of the damage caused by the surgery showed bodies and skin that no longer looked human. Patients said they had been left with hideously scarred bodies, emotional trauma and, in some cases, endless bouts of corrective surgery and constant pain.
In July, former patient Jennifer Warburton went public. She told the Supreme Court that McGoldrick had promised to give her a body to rival film star Bo Derek, but was left hospitalised for two months with hideous abdominal scars that turned gangrenous. Although she settled out of court for $50,000 she said no amount of money could compensate her and the public should be warned about McGoldrick. Among the 80 negligence cases against him, Warburton was one of the few patients who did not sign a confidentiality clause.
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Police had charged him with 310 counts of Medicare fraud and the "live" abortion of a seven-month foetus, the negligence cases were mounting and the Coroner's Court had launched inquiries into the deaths of four of his liposuction patients, of which he was cleared.
Doctor in trouble The Age December 17, 2004
HYSTERECTOMY
Ms Iris Joy Loveday, 54, of Mitcham, claims Dr. McGoldrick misdiagnosed her with cancer in February 1980 and recommended she undergo a hysterectomy, Justice Philip Mandie was told. She also claims he botched the operation.
1999 Complications of unnecessary surgery
Mr David Curtain, QC, for Ms Loveday, claimed the operation left her with "severe and permanent injury'' including a leaking rectum, abdominal injuries, a bowel obstruction, vaginal injuries, vomiting, bruising, bleeding, pain and shock.
Disgraced Doctor Facing Court Again The Age April 30, 1999
Iris Loveday, 54, said she had had 10 operations since Dr. McGoldrick performed a hysterectomy to remove a cancer that didn't exist.
1999 No show by McGoldrick
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She later learned that tests before the operation had shown no abnormality.
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Justice Mandie was told Dr. McGoldrick had not lodged an appearance in court and only the hospitals were represented.
DOCTOR SUED OVER OPERATION `HELL'. Herald-Sun April 30, 1999
In May 1999, former patient Iris Loveday was awarded $840,000 in damages by the Supreme Court, which found McGoldrick negligent for performing a hysterectomy in 1980 to remove a cancer that did not exist when she was 35.
2004 Damages awarded but McGoldrick bankrupt
McGoldrick's bankruptcy meant that many of the women who had sued him earlier for malpractice received almost nothing.
Doctor in trouble The Age December 17, 2004
MEDICAL INSURANCE CANCELLED
But by this time his insurer, the Medical Defence Association of Victoria, took the extraordinary step of kicking him out, effectively cancelling his insurance and leaving McGoldrick to face what was described as "a mountain of claims".
2004 Review - Insurers reject McGoldrick
Doctor in trouble The Age December 17, 2004
ABORTIONS
As a Gynaecologist Goldrick was controversially involved in
carrying out abortions, particularly on teenagers. He went to trial
but was acquitted. Much of the information obtained by the police was
an illegal breech of patient’s privacy by the Health Insurance
Commission (HIC) and reflected very poorly on the health
system.
Later that year, McGoldrick hit more controversy when he became the first doctor in 18 years to be charged with performing illegal abortions on under-age schoolgirls. He was acquitted amid an impassioned debate over consent. While he had always been the target of Right to Life activists, now he was hailed by some as a champion of the right of young women to choose.
2004 Review of abortion charges
Doctor in trouble The Age December 17, 2004
A Collins Street specialist who was cleared yesterday of 11 counts of procuring unlawful abortions will call for a Federal Government inquiry into what he claimed were breaches of secrecy provisions of the Health Insurance Act.
1987 Misuse of confidential records
DOCTOR CLEARED ON ABORTION CHARGES Sydney Morning Herald June 3, 1987
No official authorisation was ever given before their records were turned over to police.
1987 HIC disregarded privacy of medical records
ABORTION CASE PUTS PRIVACY IN DOUBT Sydney Morning Herald June 8, 1987
Sir Reginald (retired Federal Court judge Sir Reginald Smithers) is extremely angry about the sorts of risks for people's privacy that were highlighted by the recent prosecution of Dr. Ian McGoldrick over abortions on teenage girls, who were forced to testify about their confidential medical affairs.
1987 Privacy issues
OBJECTOR, YES, BUT HE CAN'T BE A MARTYR Sydney Morning Herald September 2, 1987
McGoldrick persuaded one teenager to have her child adopted but then got her to agree to his having the baby - simply taking it home. That he got away with it is a reflection of his charisma and persuasiveness.
In a bizarre twist, it was then revealed that McGoldrick took a baby home after he delivered a schoolgirl's child at one of his hospitals in 1985. The girl said he persuaded her to have her baby adopted rather than aborted and, while she was in labour, suggested that he and his wife take the baby. The Community Services Department tried to seize the child but the Supreme Court awarded McGoldrick and his wife, Claire, custody despite department objections that Claire had told them that McGoldrick had brought the infant home to shore up their ailing marriage. The McGoldricks separated in 1993.
2004 Review - Doing his own adoption
Doctor in trouble The Age December 17, 2004
McGoldrick’s battle with the Medical Council lasted nearly 20 years. There were many complaints made about his conduct. In the 1980s he succeeded in delaying the proceedings on the basis that they would prejudice the many court actions he was involved in. He then removed his name from the medical register so removing himself from the jurisdiction of the Medical Council. Under the laws at that time the council had no choice but to abandon the investigation. Not being registered did not stop him from practicing as a doctor in his clinics.
A Melbourne medical entrepreneur has given the Victorian Supreme Court an undertaking that he will not practise medicine in Victoria until a medical board inquiry into his professional activities is completed.
1986 Delaying Medical Council proceedings
And the board has given the court an undertaking that it will not go ahead with the inquiry until at least March 1 next year.
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Dr. McGoldrick said in an affidavit that actions he believed could be prejudiced included 29 civil actions and a committal hearing over a charge of procuring a miscarriage.
DOCTOR HAS MEDICAL INQUIRY POSTPONED Sydney Morning Herald September 4, 1986
Then, in a dramatic move that many believe was strategic, McGoldrick allowed his medical registration to lapse, forcing the board to abandon its investigation. He was not to know that this would be the start of a 17-year battle to be readmitted.
2004 Review -- Registration lapses
Doctor in trouble The Age December 17, 2004
McGoldrick spent the next 17 years trying to get the medical board to register him again which they refused to do. He applied four times and appealed the decision twice. He lied repeatedly and was shown to have lied.
Incredibly the appeal process elected to register him again in 1998 provided he worked under supervision and did not work in his own clinics. This says much for his persuasiveness. It took 15 months for the Medical Council to reverse this decision by appealing to a still higher court. He was able to practice during this period but did not do so as no one would employ or supervise him.
He tried again in 2004 and once again appealed his rejection. This time the appeal process supported the Medical Council and refused to register him.
1988: McGoldrick makes the first of several applications to be restored to the medical register, which is rejected because the board has not finished its previous investigations into allegations against him.
1998 Review - Medical Board's first rejection
New Bid To Ban Doctor? The Age September 19, 1998
In considering Mr McGoldrick's latest application, the board considered his conviction and $5000 fine in the Prahran Magistrates Court last November for impersonating a medical practitioner. The board had evidence that this occurred while Mr McGoldrick was a declared insolvent under arrangement.
1997 Rejected again
McGoldrick Ruled Unfit To Practise Medicine Sunday Age October 19. 1997
CONTROVERSIAL medical entrepreneur Ian McGoldrick has promised to have psychiatric treatment in a bid to regain the right to practise as a doctor.
1998 Appeal to the tribunal
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The tribunal was told Mr McGoldrick was caught treating patients in 1993 and 1995 despite being unregistered.
MEDICAL FRAUD'S FIGHT TO PRACTISE. Herald-Sun July 14, 1998
Despite his ongoing battles, McGoldrick's determination to be readmitted as a doctor finally paid off. During his many applications to the board and subsequent appeals, a 1998 VCAT hearing ordered him to be reregistered under strict conditions, including supervision by someone who had no financial interest with him.
2004 Review - Tribunal registered McGoldrick in 1998
It is believed that the difficulty of finding a supervisor was the reason that he worked for only 10 days of the 15 months he was registered before an appeal had him deregistered once more.
Doctor in trouble The Age December 17, 2004
DISGRACED medical entrepreneur Ian McGoldrick admitted to treating up to 300 patients at his clinics while he was unregistered, a tribunal was told yesterday.
2004 Practising illegally as a doctor
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Mr Maidment said McGoldrick had acted deceitfully and secretly, treating patients who were unaware that he was unregistered, failing to sign his patients' medical notes, using an indecipherable scrawl on prescriptions taken from pads belonging to doctors working at his clinic and compromising his staff who must have been forced to "turn a blind eye".
Unregistered doctor treated hundreds, tribunal told The Age December 7, 2004
DISGRACED medical entrepreneur Ian McGoldrick admitted that he lied to the Medical Board and to VCAT in his attempts to regain his medical licence.
2004 Admits lying
Ex-surgeon admits lying to VCAT The Age December 8, 2004
Mr Davis (Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal) upheld the decision of the Medical Practitioners Board in 2000 to reject McGoldrick's application to be reregistered.
2004 Appeal Tribunal rejects McGoldrick
It was the fourth time McGoldrick, whose $180 million medical empire collapsed in the mid-1980s, had applied to be reregistered, and the second time he had appealed against the board's decision to bar him from practicing.
Doctor fails in licence bid The Age December 15, 2004
McGoldrick’s case resulted in intense criticism of the Medical Board and the regulations under which it opperated. Some changes were made.
His actions have sparked reforms: the Medical Board can now continue investigating complaints even when a medical licence lapses and controls have been put into place over medical clinic owners who pressure their staff to act unprofessionally.
2004 Reforms
But one of the most important issues remains unresolved - one that allowed McGoldrick to flourish on the fringes of medicine where disgraced and deregistered practitioners can still own and operate medical facilities.
Doctor in trouble The Age December 17, 2004
McGoldricks boundless energy and persuasiveness have seem him emerge in 2004 as a publicity shy property developer - presumably once again with other peoples money.
Controversial medico and failed business entrepreneur Ian McGoldrick is involved in the purchase of an office building in the Melbourne suburb of Kew.
2004 Property ownership
The property at 17 Cotham Road has been purchased in an off-market transaction for $8.5 million by a private syndicate associated with Dr. McGoldrick and another "medical person".
The hush-hush property deal remains difficult to track down, with agents CB Richard Ellis unwilling to comment. However, it is understood the purchase was a straight investment acquisition and is not expected to be used for a new medical centre.
Dr. McGoldrick, a former bankrupt, already owns another small office building in Kew, as well as several residential assets.
Doctor in hush-hush office deal Australian Financial Review October 7, 2004
Villa World will manage the development of the 40 hectare greenfield site on the South Gippsland Highway for its joint venture partner, Racso, the owner of the site.
2004 Property development
Racso is controlled by former medico Ian McGoldrick.
The site will be developed into 413 low density housing lots, including a 4.5 ha site which could used for a commercial development. Some of the site has been earmarked for potential medium density housing.
Villa World Shifts Gear Australian Financial Review February 12, 2004
Locked out of practicing medicine - even at his own clinics - McGoldrick has moved into property development. Late last year he teamed with Queensland developer Villa World to build a $60-million residential and commercial development on a 40-hectare site in Cranbourne. Among the proposals are plans for a retirement village.
2004 Property development
Doctor in trouble The Age December 17, 2004
There are many press reports describing various facets of Goldrick’s conduct and behaviour. They help to fill out the picture of his character. Lawrence Money in his humorous Sunday column "Spy" in the Melbourne Age took a particular fancy to "Goldy" writing unkindly about his eccentricities.
A Victorian Supreme Court judge yesterday sentenced the former medical entrepreneur Ian McGoldrick to four weeks in jail for contempt of court. However, the jail term was stayed by Justice Beach pending an appeal.
1988 Contempt of court
REGULAR SHORTS : JAIL TERM STAYED Sydney Morning Herald November 1, 1988
A Rolls-Royce at the centre of a legal dispute between a former medical entrepreneur, Dr. Ian McGoldrick, and the finance company Citicorp has been found in a warehouse, the Victorian Supreme Court was told yesterday. The fight began in October last year when Citicorp took Dr. McGoldrick to court claiming he owed $125,000 in lease payments.
1989 Hidden Rolls-Royce
REGULAR SHORTS : ROLLS-ROYCE FOUND Sydney Morning Herald May 4, 1989
Seems latterday handyman Ian McGoldrick is not the only ex-medico in his clan. Corporate Affairs records from 1988 list brothers Peter and Bryan as medical doctors although neither are listed in the Victorian medical register. "It must be a mistake,'' Bryan McGoldrick told Spy.
1994 Ian McGoldrick's brothers also not registered doctors?
Spy Sunday Age January 16, 1994
The Palmers bought the property in 1989. The vendor, Dr. Ian McGoldrick, did not allow prospective buyers inside, so the Palmers bought it without viewing the interior. They intended to bulldoze it.
1997 Eccentric sale of house
A Life Of Sun, Sand And Palmer Trees Sunday Age January 26, 1997
The former multi-millionaire had been working as a barman at a Prahran pub to repay a large debt to his solicitor, an inquiry heard.
1998 McGoldrick found guilty as barman
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Mr McGoldrick was found guilty of trading after hours, serving liquor to persons under 18 and not checking identification. He was disqualified for four years from managing a licensed premises.
BEER CAREER GOES FLAT. Herald-Sun October 15, 1998
REGRETS, we have a few. For starters, regrets about Spy's snickers two years ago at defrocked doc Ian McGoldrick's claims to be a "handyman'' at various medical clinics around town.
1999 Neighbourhood eccentricity
Now we discover that the Golden Mac must have been serious. He is single-handedly building a three-level ranch in Pekina Square, Sorrento, and has been hammering and sawing furiously for six months.
But (there is always a but) the neighbors are howling to Mornington council, the building surveyor keeps finding Mac's work is bodgie, the Building Control Commission is awash with complaints.
"They realised he was unusual when he started cleaning out post-holes in his underpants,'' said project surveyor Robert Holmes. "Said he was too hot in great heavy work pants so he just pulled them off.''
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Neighbors have bombarded the Mornington council and surveyor Holmes with complaints about Mac's workmanship, claiming land fill, stumps and other handywork are not up to scratch. One claims the Golden Mac tried to straighten a garage wall by looping a rope around it and pulling on it with his car.
Spy The undercover story on McGoldrick Sunday Age August 22, 1999
In Pekina Square, the disgraced ex-medico's great architectural dream stands unoccupied and seemingly unloved, more than four years after Spy last saw the snowy haired eccentric working on his three-storey hacienda.
2002 McGoldrick's unfinished ediface
The neighbours, whose patience with the Golden Mac (right) expired some years ago, are frustrated. And Mornington Council, which once threatened to auction off Mac's block in lieu of unpaid rates, is powerless.
"It's a quirk of the system," a council beadle told Spy last week. "We have gone as far as we can go on this. We have checked with the building commissioner. The neighbours have gone to the ombudsman. But there is no legislation obliging a land-owner to finish a project." He said t