People who pretend to be medical professionals will face tougher penalties under new laws which have come into effect. Raffaele Di Paolo failed to get into medical school but it didn’t stop him claiming to be a fertility specialist. For more than a decade, Di Paolo told vulnerable women in Victoria and Queensland he was a qualified gynaecologist and obstetrician when he was, in fact, a homeopath. He performed a range of bizarre treatments and tests on his patients, including using a needle to remove semen from a man’s testicles without anaesthetic and injecting homeopathic substances into women’s stomachs and buttocks. Raffaele di Paolo allegedly provided IVF treatment to women for a decade without qualification. The con landed him in prison. The authority responsible for the registration of medical professionals, however, could only impose a $28,000 fine. From 1 July, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority will be able […]