Medicolegal consequences of doctors accepting bequests and gifts under a patient’s will

Doctors accepting testamentary gifts from patients’ wills need to be mindful of complying with their overlapping legal, professional and ethical obligations to patients. The cases of Schwanke v Alexakis; Camilleri v Alexakis (Schwanke) and Health Care Complaints Commission v Alexakis (HCCC) demonstrate that although a testamentary gift to a doctor may be upheld, the doctor may nevertheless face disciplinary action.

Dr Alexakis (Alexakis), a general practitioner, received a house and 90% of the remainder of an about $27 million estate under his patient’s will, who died in 2017 aged 84 years. In Schwanke, it was alleged that Alexakis unduly influenced his patient (who had been discharged home after hospitalisation for serious ongoing conditions) so he could become the main beneficiary. In 2024, after lengthy legal proceedings, they were unsubstantiated. The will was upheld and Alexakis kept the testamentary gift.

HCCC focused on allegations by the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission that Alexakis breached professional boundaries in his treatment and management of the patient, which ultimately resulted in testamentary gifts. The Tribunal accepted the Commission’s submission that, at a minimum, Alexakis demonstrated a “wholesale ignorance” of ethical issues concerning the risk of undue influence.