A respected Queensland psychologist who used the names of patients' family members to receive almost $110,000 from bogus bulk bill claims has been jailed.
Jeanette Brennan, 66, made 1381 false Medicare claims for more than 18 months up to May 2017 - the bulk of them during a "stressful" period while overseas collecting her premature twins from a surrogate mother.
The psychologist of more than 20 years' experience made claims from November 2015 for sessions that never occurred, giving details of 245 people including current and former clients as well as people who had never been patients.
The latter were family members of current or ex-clients, with names taken from patients' Medicare cards.
The Brisbane District Court heard on Tuesday that 1223 of the claims were made during a three-month period from December 2015 when Brennan wasn't in the country.
She had travelled overseas in a "rushed trip" with her husband to collect her twins after the surrogate mother had gone into premature labour, defence barrister Greg McGuire said.
Brennan was charged in early 2018, but continued practising, paying off the dodgy Medicare rebate money totalling $107,270.70.
Chief Judge Brian Devereaux said the hurried overseas trip to collect the premature twins offered "some context" to her offences.
The boys - now aged six - have subsequently been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with one son in particular suffering "significant difficulties".
Brennan is also dealing...
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