Exposing Emil Gayed, the obstetrician who mutilated scores of NSW women | Ten years of Guardian Australia

On 4 June 2018 Guardian Australia reporter Melissa Davey received a phone message from a woman making a shocking claim.

The story turned out to be much bigger.

Davey put in a request to the Health Care Complaints Commission, asking if it had any information about a Dr Emil Gayed. Pretty quickly she received a heavily redacted document.

The document confirmed Gayed had been before a tribunal, was banned from practising for three years and was being investigated. That was enough to break the story.

After initial wariness, Lyndsay Heaton decided she wanted to tell her harrowing story.

An independent investigation into the health system was announced, focusing on Taree. It was led by Gail Furness SC, previously one of the high-profile commissioners in the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

Gayed will not practise medicine in Australia again. His whereabouts is unknown.

Heaton received a settlement from insurers representing Gayed and the hospital but says it troubles her that Gayed himself appears to have faced few consequences. She has spoken to police but has received no updates about the status of their investigation.