Plastic surgeon Dr William Mooney was struck off after the deaths of two patients and an affair with another. Now he is BACK in the operating theatre – after the ‘flawed’ doctor was busted buying coke during ban

A celebrity cosmetic surgeon who had an affair with one patient and was struck off for misconduct after the deaths of two others is back in the operating theatre.

Leading ear, nose and throat surgeon Dr William Mooney has recently relaunched his practice at Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney’s eastern suburbs just over two years after he his registration was cancelled.

In April 2022, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal revoked Dr Mooney’s licence after finding ‘deficiencies in the care and treatment’ he provided to two patients who died after surgery.

The tribunal also found Dr Mooney conducted a two-year affair with a young woman  known as ‘Patient C’, who he first started treating when she was 22 years old. 

While serving his ban, Dr Mooney pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine after being busted with a bag of the drug outside his Bondi apartment in October 2022.

However, Dr Mooney ultimately won the right to return to practice in the Court of Appeal in August last year, despite Justice Mark Leeming conceding he still has ‘flaws’ and is ‘not a perfect individual, far from it’.

Dr Mooney, who has boasted about performing ‘the highest number of nose jobs in Australia’, has since relaunched his website, rhinoplastysydney.com.au, and declared he has ‘returned to practice as a specialist ENT surgeon with a focus on functional and cosmetic rhinoplasty’.

‘(Dr Mooney) has had over 20 years’ of experience as a surgeon and looks forward to continued service to the community with precision, care and dedication,’ the website read.

‘Booking and clinic details will follow.

‘We wish you good health.’

Dr Mooney’s ban came after NCAT found substandard care in relation to two deaths, including a 24-year-old man who underwent a procedure to fix a snoring issue in February 2018.

During the procedure, Dr Mooney spotted some bleeding but thought he had repaired the artery.

Two days later, the patient underwent an emergency operation due to a recurrent haemorrhage, suffered a heart attack, and died.

Another patient who also died went to Dr Mooney for sinus treatment in 2017. 

During the operation, Dr Mooney penetrated the bone below the brain and disrupted an artery, causing bleeding into the right frontal lobe of the 41-year-old man.

The mistake caused damage to an artery in the brain and the movement of ‘brain tissue containing bone shards’, the tribunal found. 

The patient’s blood pressure escalated alarmingly during the operation as a result and he later died.

The tribunal said the instances of unsatisfactory professional conduct were ‘sufficiently serious’ to justify the suspension or cancellation of Dr Mooney’s licence.

Dr Mooney admitted to the tribunal he didn’t use CT scans while conducting the operation, which took approximately 30 minutes.

The tribunal found that he became ‘disoriented’ while performing the operation and ‘was in the cranial cavity when he thought he was in the frontal sinus’.

‘Regrettably, I proceeded to use sharp and dangerous instrumentation at the base of the skull in a high-risk position,’ Dr Mooney said in a statement to the tribunal.

The tribunal found Dr Mooney ‘could not have been taking appropriate care’ in performing the complex procedure so quickly.

Patient C was a young woman who Dr Mooney treated with botox injections, tonsillitis and a nose job over a period of years.

He also prescribed her Duromine, a weight loss medication.

At an inquiry in February 2017, Dr Mooney said he had had ‘one liaison’ with the patient in mid-2014 and that otherwise, they were friends.

But records obtained by the Health Care Complaints Commission showed that between October 2013 and January 2016, 3,425 text messages and 807 phone calls were exchanged between Dr Mooney and Patient C.

The tribunal found that the relationship with Patient C constituted unsatisfactory professional conduct. 

It described the relationship as ‘exploitative and inappropriate’, and the conduct as departing ‘from both reasonably expected standards and proper and ethical conduct’.

It also found the prescription of Duromine by Dr Mooney to the woman was conduct that fell ‘significantly below what is reasonably expected of any doctor’.

Dr Mooney told the tribunal in 2021 he and the woman engaged in ‘mutual flirtation’.

NCAT disqualified him as a medical practitioner for one year.

Six months after he was stripped of his registration, police arrested Mooney when he was spotted getting into a car outside his Bondi Beach unit, only to get out again a short distance down the road.

Suspecting a drug deal, an officer ran after the surgeon, who threw a bag of cocaine on the roadside.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing a prohibited drug in December 2022 and was sentenced without conviction to a 12-month conditional release order.

Dr Mooney’s licence to practice medicine was reinstated by NCAT in March 2024, despite an appeal from the Health Care Complaints Commission.

In a published judgement, appeal court Justice Leeming said Dr Mooney ‘continues to suffer from the flaws’ that led to his ban.

‘In particular, there is a chance he may continue to mislead professional authorities,’ the judge wrote.

‘But there was ample evidence to conclude, as NCAT did, that he can be trusted to practise in an honest and ethical manner, that he presents no risk to safety, and that his predilection to mislead may be addressed by appropriate treatment.’

The former surgeon had put a considerable amount of time and effort into addressing his past unethical behaviour, the tribunal found.

He has agreed to work as an ear, nose and throat doctor under supervision for 12 months, to work no more than 35 hours a week and not to self-medicate.

He has also agreed to continuing seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Dr Mooney for comment.