The Verdins principles concerning the relevance of mental impairment to sentencing apply to professional disciplinary proceedings before VCAT. A disciplinary tribunal must take into account uncontradicted psychological evidence of a practitioner's mental condition and its effects, and must not dismiss such evidence without proper engagement. The financial impact of a disciplinary sanction on a practitioner is a relevant consideration; if the necessary degree of community protection can be achieved by a sanction with less adverse financial impact, the tribunal should ordinarily choose the less financially punitive option.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 18 later cases that cite this judgment.
3 of the 18 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.