In the long arc of medicine's covenant with the vulnerable, trust is both the foundation and the first casualty of systemic failure. A New South Wales tribunal has suspended surgeon Dr Liu-Ming Schmidt for six months following findings of professional misconduct spanning 13 patient complaints — among them a fatal surgical error and a missed colon cancer — across four hospitals over nearly two decades. The decision reflects a health system grappling with how to hold a practitioner accountable while leaving open the possibility of return, even as nearly 2,000 patients were left to wonder what ma
Surgeon suspended for six months after missed cancer diagnosis and fatal surgical error
One patient died nearly four weeks after emergency bowel surgery due to a surgical error; approximately 1,000 patients required repeat colonoscopies due to inadequate procedures.
She operated on the wrong end of the bowel. The patient died.
Mark
How does a surgeon operate on the wrong end of a bowel? Is this a moment of confusion in the operating room, or something else?
Mimi
The tribunal didn't detail the exact mechanics, but the fact that it was called catastrophic and that she didn't disclose it suggests it wasn't a split-second decision she immediately corrected. It was an error significant enough that a coroner later said it contributed to the patient's death.
Mark
And the colonoscopy failures—missing a large cancer. How is that possible if you're looking directly at the tissue?
Mimi
She admitted she wasn't taking adequate time and wasn't capturing proper images. It's not that the cancer was invisible. It's that the procedure itself was rushed or incomplete. That's why 1,000 patients had to come back.
Mark
The tribunal said she was diligent in addressing concerns but had poor insight. What does that mean in practice?
Mimi
It means she could follow instructions and comply with requirements, but the tribunal wasn't convinced she understood why these things happened or what they revealed about her judgment. That's the harder thing to fix.
Mark
Does a six-month suspension actually protect patients, or is it mostly symbolic?
Mimi
It removes her from practice for half a year and forces retraining and supervision when she returns. But you're right to wonder. The real question is whether supervision and training can address what the tribunal saw as a fundamental gap in her insight into her own errors.
Mark
What happens to the patients who were harmed? The one who died, the one who had cancer missed?
Mimi
The tribunal's role is professional discipline, not compensation. That's a separate legal question. But the coroner's finding about the surgical death creates a record that could support other claims.
The Pulse
- A patient died nearly four weeks after emergency bowel surgery in 2019 because Schmidt operated on the wrong end of the bowel — and never disclosed the error to the patient.
- A large colon cancer went undetected during a 2022 colonoscopy, only to be found immediately by another surgeon three months later, raising urgent questions about the standard of her procedures.
- Safer Care Victoria recalled close to 2,000 of Schmidt's colonoscopy patients, with roughly 1,000 requiring repeat procedures to determine what, if anything, had been missed.
- The NSW tribunal found her guilty of professional misconduct across 13 complaints, citing unacceptable oversight, poor record-keeping, and inadequate time spent during colonoscopies between 2015 and 2021.
- Despite Schmidt's efforts to address regulator concerns, the tribunal flagged a troubling lack of insight into why these failures occurred — a shadow that will follow her path back to practice.
- She faces a six-month suspension, mandatory further training, supervised practice upon return, and must cover the legal costs of the Health Care Complaints Commission's case against her.
In the long arc of medicine's covenant with the vulnerable, trust is both the foundation and the first casualty of systemic failure. A New South Wales tribunal has suspended surgeon Dr Liu-Ming Schmidt for six months following findings of professional misconduct spanning 13 patient complaints — among them a fatal surgical error and a missed colon cancer — across four hospitals over nearly two decades. The decision reflects a health system grappling with how to hold a practitioner accountable while leaving open the possibility of return, even as nearly 2,000 patients were left to wonder what may have been overlooked in their care.
Dr Liu-Ming Schmidt has been suspended from medicine for six months after the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal found her guilty of professional misconduct — a verdict built on 13 patient complaints accumulated across four hospitals in southern New South Wales over 17 years.
The gravest case dates to 2019, when Schmidt performed emergency surgery on a bowel obstruction patient at Albury Hospital. She operated on the wrong end of the bowel. The patient died nearly four weeks later from complications a NSW coroner partly attributed to that error. Schmidt did not tell the patient what had gone wrong. She had already agreed in early 2023 to stop practising for a year over this incident; the tribunal's formal suspension now formalises and extends that restriction.
A second serious failure arose from her colonoscopy work. In 2022, she performed a colonoscopy and missed a large colon cancer that another surgeon found immediately upon repeating the procedure three months later. Evidence before the tribunal showed that between 2015 and 2021, Schmidt had not been spending adequate time during colonoscopies at Wodonga Hospital, was not capturing the necessary images, and was not maintaining proper patient records. The consequences were significant: Safer Care Victoria recalled nearly 2,000 of her colonoscopy patients, and around 1,000 underwent repeat procedures.
Schmidt acknowledged the failures in her colonoscopy practice and the gaps in her record-keeping. The tribunal recognised her efforts to engage with the Health Care Complaints Commission's concerns, but expressed unease about her insight — her grasp of what these errors revealed about her practice and judgment.
When her suspension lifts, Schmidt will be required to undertake further training and practise under supervision. She must also pay the HCCC's legal costs. The tribunal's decision attempts to hold open the door to remediation, but the weight of what occurred — a death, a missed cancer, a thousand patients recalled — means the conditions for her unrestricted return will be demanding.
Dr Liu-Ming Schmidt will not be allowed to practice medicine for the next six months. The decision came down from the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in late July, the result of a formal investigation into her conduct across four hospitals in southern New South Wales over the past 17 years. The tribunal found her guilty of professional misconduct—a finding built on 13 separate patient complaints that paint a picture of systemic failures in care, judgment, and basic record-keeping.
The most severe case involved a 2019 emergency surgery at Albury Hospital. A patient came in with a bowel obstruction. Schmidt performed the operation, but made what the tribunal called a catastrophic error: she operated on the wrong end of the bowel. The patient died nearly four weeks later from complications that a NSW coroner later attributed in part to the surgical mistake. Schmidt did not disclose the error to the patient. The tribunal heard this case and found her conduct unacceptable. She had already agreed in January 2023 to stop practicing for a year following this incident, but the formal suspension now extends that restriction.
A second major failure emerged from her work as a colonoscopist. In 2022, Schmidt performed a colonoscopy on a patient and failed to identify a large cancer growing in the colon. Three months later, another surgeon repeated the procedure and found it immediately. The tribunal heard evidence that between 2015 and 2021, Schmidt had not taken adequate time during colonoscopies at Wodonga Hospital to properly perform the procedure or capture the necessary images. She also failed to maintain proper patient records and notes during this period. These lapses were serious enough that Safer Care Victoria, the state's patient safety body, recalled nearly 2,000 of her colonoscopy patients. Approximately 1,000 of those patients underwent repeat procedures to ensure nothing had been missed.
Beyond these headline cases, the tribunal found additional complaints of unacceptable oversight and engagement with patient care. In one instance involving another bowel obstruction patient, Schmidt failed to provide appropriate management. The tribunal's language was direct: her involvement was unacceptable. During the proceedings, Schmidt admitted to the failures in her colonoscopy practice and acknowledged the gaps in her record-keeping. The tribunal noted that she had been diligent in trying to address the concerns raised by the Health Care Complaints Commission, which had initiated the investigation. Yet the tribunal also expressed concern about her insight—her understanding of why these errors occurred and what they meant about her practice.
The suspension is not the end of the matter. Schmidt has been ordered to pay the legal costs of the HCCC's case against her. When her six-month ban lifts, she will be required to undertake further training and work under supervision. The tribunal's decision reflects a system attempting to balance accountability with the possibility of remediation, though the depth of the failures—a patient death, a missed cancer, 1,000 patients recalled for repeat procedures—suggests the bar for her return to unrestricted practice will be high.
Notable Quotes
The surgery was not successful because Dr Schmidt made a catastrophic error— NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Her engagement, oversight and direct involvement was unacceptable— NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, regarding patient care management
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