‘Upset, misunderstood’: Former patients of Bondi killer’s psychiatrist break silence

New questions are being raised about the Toowoomba-based psychiatrist whose conduct is one focus of a coronial inquest into one of Australia’s worst mass murders.

Dr Andrea Boros-Lavack treated Bondi Junction killer Joel Cauchi from 2012 to 2020.

The inquest heard she agreed to wean him off all anti-psychotic medication by 2019, after changing his diagnosis from “chronic schizophrenia” to “first-time psychosis”.

Michele Cauchi, Joel’s mother, tried to warn Boros-Lavack seven times of her concerns he was relapsing into psychosis after coming off his medication.

Joel Cauchi was still off his medication when he went into a “florid psychotic state” and killed six people at Westfield Bondi Junction in April 2024.

The findings from the inquest are yet to be handed down by the NSW coroner, but two of Boros-Lavack’s former patients have raised concerns about the psychiatrist’s conduct in the past.

One patient told A Current Affair that she felt “dismissed and unheard” when seeing Boros-Lavack eight years ago.

“She disregarded a few of my previous diagnoses from earlier psychiatrists,” she claimed.

“I don’t understand how she came to the conclusions that she did. A young woman who was in need didn’t need to be treated like a dirty, crazy person.”

The patient, who was 27 at the time, has now completed a mental health degree, which has empowered her to speak up.

“I’m hoping that what I can say can validate anybody else with their experiences with her,” she said.

Another patient told A Current Affair that they complained to medical regulator AHPRA about Boros-Lavack in 2014.

The former patient alleged her “treatment was highly inappropriate and unprofessional”.

She claimed the doctor “stated she would be changing my medication with no discussion or explanation”, leaving her feeling “traumatised for a very long time”.

“I thought it was important that AHPRA was aware of this practitioner’s unprofessionalism. I didn’t think she was fit to treat patients,” the former patient said.

AHPRA dismissed the complaint without even speaking directly to the aggrieved patient.

Boros-Lavack declined to comment in relation to either case, leaving open the concerns raised by her former patients.

It can now be revealed that in 2023, AHPRA placed two conditions on Boros-Lavack’s registration, requiring her to undertake education and get mentoring about managing vulnerable patients and conflicts of interest.

Both conditions were removed from the public register by mid-2024 after she had satisfied those requirements.

It has been a difficult period for the Hungarian-born practitioner. Boros-Lavack was the clinical director of The Toowoomba Clinic, a 27-bed acute psychiatric facility that went into liquidation last year owing debts of $11 million.

There is no suggestion Boros-Lavack had anything to do with the facility’s demise or that she mistreated former patients, only that there are allegations from some who feel unheard.

When confronted by A Current Affair, the psychiatrist said patients with a complaint about her should contact AHPRA.

“I don’t think it’s a public concern. If you are concerned, you can go to channels like AHPRA or you can go to the ombudsman and ask them,” she said.

Boros-Lavack also said she did not know how many complaints had been made against her to AHPRA, even though the regulator is required by law to notify the practitioner “as soon as practicable” after it is received.

A spokesperson for AHRPA said “confidentiality provisions of the national law” under which it operates limited what could be said publicly about an individual practitioner.

“Unless a matter is already in the public domain, for example a specific tribunal outcome or listing on the public register, we are unable to provide information in relation to it,” the spokesperson said.

Boros-Lavack declined to respond to repeated email requests seeking a more substantial response to the complaints.

A spokesperson for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists said the tragedy in Bondi had “deeply shaken all of us and exposed the cracks in our mental health system”.

“Psychiatric practice at times involves complex clinical scenarios and needs a whole of system to work together to ensure safe and best outcomes for the patient and community,” the spokesperson said.

“Treatment and advice are frequently based on a person’s mental health presentation at the time of review and psychiatrists are unable to confidently predict what might or might not happen in the future.”

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