Osteopath moved to Italy, continues to practise after sexual assault of ACT patient

In an ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal decision, published on Thursday, Daniele Caminiti was prohibited from providing any health service to a female patient for seven years.

His registration was also cancelled, and he was disqualified from applying for registration for seven years.

Presidential member Juliet Lucy reprimanded Mr Caminiti and found his behaviour was for "a sexual purpose" that constituted professional misconduct.

The Osteopathy Board of Australia took Mr Caminiti to the tribunal after initially suspending his registration in 2022.

The tribunal found that in March 2022, Mr Caminiti touched a patient's genitals and digitally penetrated her without consent or clinical justification while working in Canberra.

He later sent a text message to her personal mobile number, after accessing her confidential clinical records, saying: "Please don't mention this to anyone, it could jeopardise my entire career, destroy my family."

Mr Caminiti also said he wanted the woman to know "how ashamed and sorry I feel for what happened."

The patient did not respond, and the tribunal took the text as an admission of wrongdoing that corroborated her allegations of sexual assault.

Mr Caminiti, an Italian citizen, left Australia shortly after the allegations were made and has been practising at two locations in Italy since that time. He did not participate in the tribunal proceedings or provide any evidence.

The patient had disclosed the sexual assault to another osteopath working at the same clinic during a later appointment. During this appointment in the treating room, Mr Caminiti tried to enter and speak with her, but the other practitioner prevented him.

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The presidential member found that Mr Caminiti's treatment of the woman "was not consistent with good osteopathic practice under the guidelines".

"There was no clinical rationale for the intimate area contact, he did not explain to the patient what was proposed to occur, he did not gain her consent or stop when she first indicated she was not comfortable, he kept no records of intimate area contact and he did not use examination gloves," Ms Lucy said.