A father-of-two nurse, Suresh Kumar Balasubramaniam, 47, has been found guilty of professional misconduct after sexually abusing vulnerable women who were being treated at psychiatric and hospital facilities in the Sydney area. The findings, made by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal following complaints referred by the Health Care Complaints Commission, matter because they concern a healthcare worker exploiting mentally unwell patients in his care, one of whom he allegedly suggested was hallucinating the incident.

Three women came forward with separate allegations spanning 2021 to 2023. While working at St John of God Hospital, a private mental health facility in Richmond, north-west of Sydney, he was said to have pressed his penis against one woman's hand and questioned another inappropriately about sex; a 34-year-old identified as Patient A said she woke at around 1am on 3 December 2021 to find him pressing his "semi-erect or erect" penis against her hand and later caught him pleasuring himself. A third woman, treated at Northern Beaches Hospital in August 2023 while bedridden and hearing voices, said he complimented her physique before touching her backside and lifting her shirt. Balasubramaniam was suspended in 2023 and told the Daily Mail he represented himself at the hearing because he could no longer afford a lawyer; his wife, who faces no allegations, continues to work at the same St John of God facility.