GP banned after prescribing gay “cure”

A NSW doctor belonging to the Exclusive Brethren religious sect has been banned from practising as a GP after prescribing chemical castration as a “cure” for homosexuality.

Mark Christopher James Craddock prescribed an 18-year-old man anti-androgen therapy cyproterone acetate (Cyprostat) when he approached Craddock in 2008 seeking a treatment for being gay.

The patient, who cannot be named for legal reasons, complained to the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission earlier this year before it was sent to the Medical Council of NSW.

A council hearing held last month was told the young man came out as gay in 2008 and was told by a Exclusive Brethren leader that “there’s medication you can go on for these things”. The leader then referred him on to Craddock.

The young man, who was visiting Australia at the time from New Zealand on a working holiday, was staying with a member of the Exclusive Brethren Church who helped facilitate the appointment with Craddock and drove him to Craddock’s home.

Craddock then saw the man in his home and prescribed the drug which lowers the libido and is used for treating prostate cancer victims and for sexual deviancy.

The Medical Council found that Craddock did not make a proper physical psychologist nor did he discuss the side effects of the drug, which includes impotence in some cases.

Craddock admitted that it was a mistake to prescribe so much medication with out proper checks prior and said the drug should not have been prescribed.

He was found guilty of unsatisfactory conduct and was restricted to only practicing as a radiologist with restrictions on prescriptions he could write for patients outside that field except in emergency situations.