The GP, who is a member of the Exclusive Brethren, claimed he was just trying to cure the New Zealand patient who was also a member of the church at the time.
Craig Hoyle, 23, says he had asked for help from the religious leaders when he realised he was gay at the age of 16.
“I believed homosexuality was a sin, that the church could help me cure, so for the next few months they did everything they could to try and change me,” he told 3 News.
That included doses of a drug called Cyprostat, which is more commonly used to treat prostate cancer or to subdue sex offenders. It was of no medical benefit to Craig.
When Hoyle visited Sydney GP Mark Craddock, who was also a member of the church, he was told there was a medication that could “fix” him.
“I told him that I was there because I was gay, and he prescribed the drug,” says Hoyle. “There was no physical examination, no discussion of past medical history, and no discussion of side effects.”
It wasn’t until he left the church in 2009 that he decided to lay a complaint against the doctor. Australia’s Health Care Complaints Commission has now found Craddock guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct and is now banned from general practice.
Hoyle says he is happy with the result.
“To know that he’s not going to be able to do this to anyone else is a significant step,” he says. “I’ve known all along what he did was wrong, but to have that acknowledged by the medical board is important to me.”
