Male nurse's unspeakably vile acts to struggling women patients are revealed - and his sickening claim one was hallucinating: 'Oh God, don't tell my wife'

By KARLEIGH SMITH - SENIOR REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 11:21, 8 July 2026 | Updated: 11:21, 8 July 2026 A father-of-two nurse was suspended after he pushed his penis against a woman psychiatric patient's hand and shocked others with his intimate touching and sex talk. Suresh Kumar Balasubramaniam, 47, has been found guilty of professional misconduct while working at St John of God Hospital, a private mental health facility in Richmond, north-west of Sydney. Two women separately told the Health Care Complaints Commission he approached them in a sexual manner in 2021 and 2022. One woman said she woke up to find him pressing his penis against her hand, and another said he had questioned her inappropriately about sex.   A third complainant was being treated at Northern Beaches Hospital in August 2023 for a mental health condition which left her bedridden and hearing voices. She said he had complimented her on her muscular physique, before touching her backside and lifting her shirt to expose her bra.   Balasubramaniam told the Daily Mail on Wednesday that he represented himself at Tuesday's hearing because he could not now afford to obtain a lawyer. He was suspended in 2023, but his wife, Shobana Ganapathy, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, continues to work at the same St John of God facility. Suresh Kumar Balasubramaniam (left) has been found guilty of professional misconduct Patient A, 34, told the NSW Civil and Administration Tribunal she had been admitted to St John of God and woke up around 1am on December 3, 2021. She found Balasubramaniam pressing his 'semi-erect or erect' penis against her left hand through his pants. He then asked if he could take her blood pressure, before she told the tribunal she 'caught him pleasuring himself, but did not react'. Instead, she said she used 'the situation to my advantage to obtain valium from him'.  She was receiving treatment for addiction to methamphetamines and alcohol withdrawal at the clinic at the time. She told the tribunal he then kept her awake for two to three hours discussing her past trauma history and questioning her about '(the) dark web, gang affiliations, and general background involving drugs'. 'I really, really wanted the conversation to be over,' she said. 'When you are in that type of detox your only real relief is when you are asleep so disturbances in sleep can be quite tormenting.' Health Care Complaints Commission brought the case to the Civil and Administration Tribunal 'As I had just had the valium, my hope was to be able to go to sleep to get some relief from the withdrawal symptoms. 'The conversation was making me feel unsafe because of the nature of the topics.' Balasubramaniam told Patient A at his hearing that she was 'either mistaken or making up your evidence, and at no time did I press my penis against your hand'. But Patient A told the tribunal hearing: 'I deny that. He did that.' He also told the tribunal that Patient A had in the past used DMT, dimethyltryptamine, a powerful psychedelic.  Through an appointed questioner, he added: 'Do you know that DMT is a drug which can cause intense hallucinations?' Patient A said: 'Yes. I know what the drug is. Yes. I know exactly what it is. I am not denying ever using the drug.  'The primary reason I was there was for methamphetamine. DMT is not addictive.'  One female patient said he pressed his semi-erect penis against her hand while she was asleep The tribunal also found Balasubramaniam breached professional boundaries during rostered shifts at St John of God between August 29 and September 7, 2022.  Patient B, now 39, was admitted for alcohol detox but also suffered from PTSD, bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. The tribunal heard he had told Patient B there was another patient at the facility with a sex addiction who was married and wanted to have sex with him. He told her he wanted 12 children, but his wife would only give him two, and talked about wanting to have sex in the hospital's bathrooms and gardens. Patient B told the tribunal Balasubramaniam asked if drugs made her feel like having sex, and whether she had pictures of herself when she was young and drunk. Patient B told the hearing his behaviour made her feel 'uncomfortable'.  'Because he was asking me personal questions, I was unsure if this was part of the process or if he was asking me for his own personal gain,' she said. 'I was confused, I was uncomfortable and I was somewhere where I was unfamiliar. Where I didn't know the rules, so I felt unsafe. The Northern Beaches Hospital, where patient C said she was inappropriately touched 'I felt I had to be honest as well in order to get better, so I was trying to be as open as possible and in doing that I felt uncomfortable.'  Balasubramaniam later told her: 'Don't tell anyone about what we talked about. I trust you'. Patient B said: 'I don't even know your name'. The tribunal heard Balasubramaniam said: 'It's Suresh. I shouldn't have told you, now you know, silly me.' He was put on leave after Patient B complained on September 7, 2022. Balasubramaniam then moved to Northern Beaches Hospital, where Patient C was admitted on 21 August 2023, hearing voices and unable to get out of bed.  She said Balasubramaniam was 'nice to her' but told her to 'jump up and down' to increase her low blood pressure. In another later conversation in her room, Balasubramaniam told her she had nice thighs, commented on her arm muscles and asked about her physical training.  St John of God Hospital in Richmond, where two of the incidents took place Patient C said she let him touch her thigh to show how hard it was, adding that Balasubramaniam showed her exercises like burpees and squat thrusts. The tribunal heard Patient C said Balasubramaniam brushed her backside with his hand when she stood up to show him her stomach muscles. On the evening of August 22, Balasubramaniam entered Patient C's room and asked if he could close the door, to which she agreed.  The pair discussed fitness before she lifted up her shirt to expose her stomach, and show she did not have strong abdominal muscles.  The tribunal heard she let him touch her abdominal muscles but then Balasubramaniam 'lifted up her shirt which exposed her bra' and had a 'strange look in his eyes', she said.  Later that night, Patient C approached the nurse's station to ask for her mobile phone, where she ran into Balasubramaniam who told her: 'I hope I will see you again soon.' Patient C asked his name, he told her it was Suresh and then handed over her phone. Patient C said she screamed at him 'because I had now become boiling angry with him and what he had done'.  Balasubramaniam was suspended, pictured with his wife, Shobana She returned to her room and cried, before texting and calling her partner, who encouraged her to report Balasubramaniam.  She was interviewed by two nurses the following day. On August 24, Balasubramaniam was suspended during a phone call with the Northern Beaches Hospital director of nursing.  The tribunal heard he was 'very worried' about what the patient said and that 'his wife cannot find out, as there had been allegations in the past'.  'He said he had worked at SJG [St John of God] and that a patient said something happened about the patient complaining, but it wasn't proved...'  'Oh my goodness, my wife must not know, we share an email, oh my god, please don't tell my wife,' Balasubramaniam said. Balasubramaniam told the Daily Mail on Wednesday that he still emphatically denied the claims against him, despite the tribunal's guilty finding. He said he was 'financially struggling' since being suspended, and added: 'We are broke, but my wife is supporting me.' He confirmed his wife, Ms Ganapathy, was still employed by St John of God, and with two children - including a son with epilepsy - was struggling to make ends meet. Daily Mail has contacted NSW Health on behalf of Northern Beaches Hospital. 'The safety and wellbeing of our patients and clients is our top priority and we are deeply concerned by the Tribunal's findings, a St John of God Health spokesperson told Daily Mail. 'We are sincerely sorry for the experience of the patients who were in our care. 'We recognise that our community rightly expects the highest standards of care, respect and safety in every interaction with the healthcare system. We have robust policies, procedures and safeguards in place to protect our patients and to ensure concerns are taken seriously, investigated thoroughly and acted upon appropriately. 'As confirmed in the Tribunal's judgement, St John of God Health Care terminated Mr Balasubramaniam's employment and reported him to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) on 24 October 2022. 'St John of God Health Care has fully cooperated with the Health Care Complaints Commission's investigation and the NSW Administrative Tribunal proceedings.' Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.