Dr Hatem Soliman was working as a junior doctor in the Armidale Hospital emergency department in 2019, when the HCCC argues he had inappropriate interactions with a 35-year-old female patient who had come to Australia to escape domestic violence.

The patient had a history of mental health issues, seizures, alcohol abuse and homelessness.

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According to the HCCC, Dr Soliman first met the patient on March 19, after she had fallen while intoxicated.

Two days later she returned to hospital, when Dr Soliman offered to drive her to Sydney to see her family.

It's then that he "inappropriately" and without "her express consent", took her number from the clinical record and offered to contact her once she was discharged, court documents show.

According to the HCCC, Dr Soliman gave the patient his mobile number and told her that she could call him if "she needed help or if she got worse overnight".

A month later, he called her about non-clinical issues and offered to help her find cheap accommodation or stay at his house. He also texted her to meet for coffee.

On April 7, at about 9pm and again at midnight, Dr Soliman replied to texts from the patient and asked her to contact him when his shift ended.

She told him she had gotten into an argument with a friend and needed help, so Dr Soliman picked her up and took her to his house.

When the pair arrived, he let her sleep in his room overnight.

According to the HCCC, sometime after midnight Dr Soliman got into the bed with the patient and put his arm around her shoulders after she repeatedly told him to stop.

Dr Soliman denies entering the bedroom and trying to put his arm around her, offering her a place to stay or giving her his personal number.

He argues the patient gave consent for him to write her mobile number down.

The HCCC found he was guilty of two complaints of unsatisfactory professional conduct serious enough to justify suspending or cancelling his registration.

It was also alleged that he failed to help her seek appropriate community support.

As of February, Dr Soliman's registration conditions mean he can only work in a hospital or approved group practice, has to work under supervision, cannot examine, treat or perform procedures on women and may be subject to random audits of his practice by the Medical Council of NSW.

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