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ex-gayA Sydney doctor has been banned from practice after he prescribed chemical castration as a cure for homosexuality to a New Zealand man.

In 2008, Exclusive Brethren member and GP Mark Christopher James Craddock, 75, prescribed the 18-year-old anti-androgen therapy cyproterone acetate (Cyprostat) during a 10-minute consultation in his home.

According to stuff.co.nz, the drug that Craddock prescribed is used to treat prostate cancer and severe male sexual disorders and sexual deviation.

The patient was a member of the Exclusive Brethren church at the time, the report said.

In a complaint letter to the Health Care Complaints Commission, he said when, at the age of 18 he came out as gay, a church leader told him, “there’s medication you can go on”.

“He recommended that I speak to Dr Craddock on the matter with a view to my being placed on medication to help me with my ‘problem’,” the man said.

According to the report, in a hearing before the professional standards committee of the Medical Council of New South Wales in June, Craddock admitted he did not obtain a medical history, conduct a physical examination, take an adequate sexual history or arrange a follow-up appointment.

He did not refer the patient to a counsellor or a psychologist, despite the drug manufacturer’s recommendation, and did not order a liver test or discuss the side effects, which include impotence, the report said.

Craddock conceded it was potentially dangerous for a patient to have that much medication unsupervised. He said that he should not have prescribed it at all, the report added.

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