Disgraced surgeon Munjed Al Muderis flags appeal to damning court judgment

Disgraced orthopaedic surgeon Dr Munjed Al Muderis has signalled he will appeal against his devastating defamation lawsuit loss.

On Friday, Federal Court Justice Wendy Abraham dismissed all aspects of Al Muderis’ claim that The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes had unfairly defamed him in a series of articles that accused him of negligence.

Al Muderis had alleged the reports conveyed a range of defamatory meanings, including that he negligently performed osseointegration surgery and that he provided inadequate aftercare.

Osseointegration surgery involves inserting titanium pins into the residual bone of an amputated limb to enable a prosthetic to be connected.

Abraham found that Nine, the owner of the mastheads and 60 Minutes, had established both contextual truth and the public interest defences.

The case was one of the first major tests of the public interest defence for reporting, which allows media companies to argue they reasonably believed their journalism was published in the public interest.

On Monday, Al Muderis posted to social media that he was disappointed his case was dismissed, and that he intended to appeal.

“My intention in bringing this case was not about avoiding transparency. Rather, it was done to protect my reputation, and the reputation of my colleagues, from what I believed to be unfounded and inaccurate representations of our medical practice,” he said.

Abraham said she considered the evidence of dozens of patients, who were presented to the court as case studies for osseointegration performed by Al Muderis between 2013 and the publication of the stories in 2022.

“Although [Nine] accepted Dr Al Muderis is, to many, an Australian hero who has devoted much of his life’s work to helping amputees walk again, they contended their investigation revealed there is a significant cohort of patients who are unhappy and negatively impacted by Dr Al Muderis’ services,” Abraham said.

Nine declined to comment.

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