One of Australia\u2019s elite heart surgeons has been accused of being an alcoholic by his own family.<\/p>\n
The shocking claim against Dr Marco Emanuele Larobina has been detailed in court documents, as he fights for a slice of a family trust fund. <\/p>\n
It is alleged his dad, Ubaldo Larobina \u2013 who founded Melbourne\u2019s Italian-language newspaper Il Globo \u2013 removed Marco from being a beneficiary in August 2021. <\/p>\n
After Ubaldo\u2019s death, aged 92, in December 2023, control of the \u201csubstantial\u201d family trust \u2013 which includes ownership of IlGlobo \u2013 was transferred to his two other children, Julius and Nicoletta. <\/p>\n
But within weeks Dr Larobina launched legal action and the trio have been locked in a bitter feud ever since.<\/p>\n
Explosive court documents state Ubaldo was told his son was an alcoholic by Marco\u2019s then wife and shown a \u201cterrible photo\u201d of him drunk and injured outside the home of much younger trainee surgeon, who he was allegedly having an affair with. <\/p>\n
Marco admits he was a patient at Addiction Solutions Victoria in December 2022, but has not said why.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a deeply sad case,\u201d Supreme Court of Victoria Judicial Registrar Katherine Lorenz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re dealing with Mr (Ubaldo) Larobina, who was an amazing and remarkable individual, who built this legacy, and the material that\u2019s going to go before the court in the trial won\u2019t reflect well on anybody.\u201d <\/p>\n
She added: \u201cSome of it is potentially scandalous. And it will, in my view, only serve to deepen rifts in the family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt raises matters that, for a family, are deeply sensitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
An anonymous complaint was also made about Dr Larobina to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) last year. <\/p>\n
That investigation concluded this month exonerating him of any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
Court documents allege Dr Larobina has been estranged from the family since 2010.<\/p>\n
A statement of claim continues: \u201cAt some point between April 2021 and July 2021, Ubaldo became aware via numerous conversations with Marco\u2019s wife at Ubaldo\u2019s home that Marco was an alcoholic, Marco had an affair and that affair was continuing and Marco\u2019s marriage had broken down.\u201d <\/p>\n
Barrister Harry Hill-Smith, for the plaintiffs, alleged a \u201cterrible\u201d photo of Marco was shown to Ubaldo.<\/p>\n
\u201cUbaldo was shown a terrible photo of Marco while intoxicated and injured following an incident outside of the home of Marco\u2019s then girlfriend.\u201d <\/p>\n
He added Marco was removed from the trusts because his dad believed he was an alcoholic.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have given rise to a legitimate fear that an alcoholic son may interfere in the proper management of the trusts, and that he would be a disruptive influence on the management of the trusts. <\/p>\n
\u201cMarco\u2019s alcoholism would have constituted disentitling conduct, which would justify the removal of a beneficiary.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is also alleged Marco had two major fights with his dad that left Ubaldo \u201cvisibly terrified\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Nicoletta and Julius arrived the doors were locked, the blinds were drawn and Ubaldo was sitting on the couch visiblyterrified,\u201d the statement of claim reads. <\/p>\n
Ubaldo was so worried Marco was going to attack him he asked Julius to stay overnight and later changed all the locks on hishouse, the document reads. <\/p>\n
Marco denies the \u201cscreaming arguments\u201d ever happened but Mr Hill-Smith claimed it was possible he was \u201csimply black out drunk\u201d and \u201cdoesn\u2019t actually remember them\u201d. <\/p>\n
Marco was suspended from the Royal Melbourne Hospital for \u201cserious misconduct\u201d last year but Marco took legal action and thematter was resolved out of court. <\/p>\n
He no longer works for them but he does continue to work at Epworth HealthCare in Richmond and Monash Health\u2019s Victorian Heart Hospital in Clayton. <\/p>\n
Ubaldo was allegedly so concerned by his son\u2019s behaviour, he didn\u2019t want to be treated at the same hospital as him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarco\u2019s erratic behaviour, drinking problem and acrimony with (his wife) produced an instable home environment,\u201d the statement of claim reads. <\/p>\n
\u201cUbaldo insisted on being treated at Cabrini Health rather than Epworth Healthcare because he said that he didn\u2019t want to be treated at the same hospital as one where Marco worked and he didn\u2019t want Marco anywhere near him or involved in his medical care.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dr Larobina has filed a counter claim saying amendments to the family trusts were not completed correctly and should be null and void. <\/p>\n
He also argues that his dad had memory issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarco Larobina has an extremely stressful job and addiction or otherwise can arise for any number of reasons,\u201d Barrister Zoe Anderson, representing Dr Larobina, said of the addiction allegations. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no need for anyone to be determining questions about treatment nearly a year and a half after the relevant eventsin this case.\u201d <\/p>\n
A spokesman for Epworth HealthCare said it had no concerns over Dr Larobina work.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr Larobina is an experienced and highly regarded cardiothoracic surgeon and the Epworth has no concerns regarding his ability to safely practise or provide care to patients,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cEpworth is aware that the Medical Board of Australia recently concluded a thorough investigation into matters concerning Dr Larobina and the Board determined to take no further action. He holds unrestricted medical registration.\u201d <\/p>\n
He added: \u201cAs is the case for all accredited medical practitioners, Epworth maintains robust clinical governance, credentialling and oversight processes.\u201d <\/p>\n
Monash Health said it \u201ctreats its obligations to protect the confidentiality of personal information with utmost seriousness\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Larobina family have been urged to re-try mediation. If that fails, a 15-day trial is expected late this year or earlyin 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Australia\u2019s elite heart surgeons has been accused of being an alcoholic by his own family. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32579,32598,124,23,133,32594,825,5021,32580,32582,32591,32593,32584,32595,32592,32583,32587,32588,32590,10927,32589,260,32578,119,135,120,32585,1440,3300,32586,8961,32581,32597,32596,117,68,1438],"class_list":["post-40403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-addiction-allegations","tag-alcoholic-son","tag-america","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-clayton","tag-court-documents","tag-erratic-behaviour","tag-explosive-court","tag-family-trust","tag-harry-hill-smith","tag-heart-surgeon","tag-instable-home-environment","tag-jon-kaila","tag-julius","tag-katherine-lorenz","tag-legal-action","tag-legitimate-fear","tag-marco-emanuele","tag-medical-care","tag-medical-registration","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-heart","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-re-try-mediation","tag-richmond","tag-royal-melbourne-hospital","tag-screaming-arguments","tag-supreme-court","tag-terrible-photo","tag-trainee-surgeon","tag-trust-fund","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-victoria","tag-virginia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}