It started out as one of those odd stories you sometimes see in the rough and tumble of a federal election campaign — a viral video of a man tearing down a female politician's campaign corflute, talking about burying the body under concrete.
The vision of a surgeon smashing Kooyong independent Monique Ryan's election sign into a rubbish skip and saying "always gotta bury the body" went viral in a week when multiple women were allegedly murdered by men.
But for many of the former colleagues and others who spoke to Four Corners for our investigation into this man, the video was telling — not just about his attitudes about women, but also the position he occupied as a surgeon at the apex of the private hospital world.
A surgeon who left behind uncomfortable nurses, crying radiographers, patients who thought him like an egotistical character out of Mad Men, and a devastated, grieving family.
Greg Malham was a renowned neurosurgeon at Epworth ― Melbourne's largest private hospital.
When the corflute story broke in Melbourne's The Age newspaper, Epworth's CEO, Andrew Stripp, issued an unusually robust statement to staff, saying the hospital was "deeply concerned by the unacceptable behaviour displayed by the surgeon" and he personally found the content of the video "abhorrent".
Within weeks, Mr Malham resigned from the hospital.
Mr Malham was encouraged to report himself to the medical regulator, AHPRA, which commenced an investigation, but he is still operating.
An investigation by Four Corners has discovered a string of people from Mr Malham's past who were not shocked by the video because they had seen what they described as sexist and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace by the neurosurgeon.
"I wasn't surprised, because that's exactly how he would carry on in theatre," said Katie, a former Epworth nurse who worked with Mr Malham in theatre and in the hospital's recovery rooms, who told Four Corners she found his behaviour with women "uncomfortable".
Maddison, a former Epworth radiographer who also worked with Mr Malham, said he and other surgeons at the hospital had a "God complex".
"They did see themselves as more important and better than anyone in the room," Maddison said.
"And they definitely didn't treat the staff members with respect."
Greg Malham is a celebrated neurosurgeon.
'He was so full of himself'
The phrase "God complex" was often volunteered to Four Corners about Mr Malham, whom many of his former colleagues thought was a prime example of the problem with some egotistical surgeons in the private hospital system.
Former patient Annie Sargood and her husband Randall Cooke described Mr Malham as "probably the most egotistical person [they had] ever met".
"[He was] absolutely, completely arrogant, like a character out of Mad Men," Ms Sargood, who had a spinal fusion operation with Mr Malham, told Four Corners.
Annie Sargood is a former patient of Greg Malham. (Four Corners)
Mr Cooke said there were "flirtatious innuendos" in the way the surgeon behaved with his wife.
"He was so up himself, he was so full of himself," Mr Cooke said.
Four Corners has spoken to many staff who worked with him at Epworth and before that, at The Alfred public hospital, who felt uncomfortable about his behaviour.
Recovery and theatre nurse Katie, who left Epworth in 2021, remembered often feeling uneasy around him because of the "inappropriate" way he would speak — this was something volunteered by many other nurses Four Corners spoke to.
"He'd come into recovery and say, 'hey spunky,'" Katie recalled.
"[He] could be quite crass with some of the remarks he made, particularly around women.
"He would make a lot of the nurses in recovery quite uncomfortable when he came in to hand over his patient."
Katie worked with Greg Malham at Epworth. (Four Corners)
One memory that stood out for her was how, she said, he would "sometimes put his hand on your back and just leave it there that little bit too long".
"There was sort of a vibe in the recovery room … 'Oh, here comes Greg. Let's get ready to feel awkward,'" Katie said.
She said that when she worked in Mr Malham's theatre, he would "really let loose in terms of his inappropriate behaviour".
"Comments about women, about their tits ― just really crass, vulgar comments," she said.
"Enough to make you want to walk out of the theatre and just think, 'I cannot believe he's saying some of that stuff.'"
'Uncomfortable, intimidated, scared, stressed'
Maddison is a former Epworth radiographer who left the hospital largely because she could no longer bear working with surgeons in theatre.
She said the neurosurgery department where Mr Malham worked was particularly toxic.
"Radiographers would be crying because of the way that they'd been spoken to by the [neurosurgeons]," Maddison said.
"A big reason for that stress was the stress that was put on us in theatre and just being scared every day."
Two weeks before she left Epworth in January 2021, Maddison made a written complaint to human resources at the hospital about Mr Malham's behaviour in theatre.
Melbourne-based neurosurgeon Greg Malham.
She said the radiography department was understaffed, and radiographers were often stretched so thin they would be late to theatre.
On one of the occasions she was sent to Mr Malham's theatre, she said her heart sank because she assumed from previous experience he would get angry.
She said he was "standing at the end of the corridor just glaring at me the whole journey up to the theatre".
She wrote to HR that when she walked in, "Mr Malham … was yelling 'f***, f***, f***! This is f***ing ridiculous, having 12 people standing around doing nothing while we wait for an X-ray.'"
She wrote that Mr Malham then "aggressively un-scrubbed and stormed past me".
"I felt uncomfortable, intimidated, scared, stressed and embarrassed," Maddison, who was worried she would make a mistake in the theatre, wrote.
"I completed the imaging and left the theatre and burst into tears."
Maddison left Epworth in January 2021, two weeks after she made a written complaint about Greg Malham's behaviour. (Four Corners)
Epworth's chief executive, professor Andrew Stripp, who was not at the hospital at the time of these allegations, cannot speak about Mr Malham for legal reasons.
But he does have a message for surgeons in his hospital more generally, saying they should be "mindful of the environment you are working in, be mindful of your team".
"If people have felt uncomfortable about raising concerns or addressing issues, I'm very sorry to hear that," Professor Stripp told Four Corners.
"It's essential that we create an environment at Epworth HealthCare where people can come to work, feel confident that they can deliver the care that they trained [for], that they aspired to do, and feel safe in doing so.
"And when that's not living up to expectations, that they can take action, that they can be heard, and that those issues that are raised will be taken seriously, the concerns will be respected, and they will feel safe in doing so."
Andrew Stripp is the chief executive officer of Epworth Healthcare in Melbourne. (Four Corners)
'It is not OK'
The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) has strict guidelines for its fellows that go beyond their technical skills in the operating theatre.
The college's Surgical Competence and Performance Framework says it is "poor behaviour" for surgeons to "repeatedly display a negative attitude towards junior medical staff, nurses and other health care professionals".
It also says it is poor behaviour if a surgeon "berates and humiliates others" or "makes unwelcome comments on the appearance of others".
The college put out a statement condemning Mr Malham's behaviour in the corflute video after it received multiple complaints.
RACS president, professor Owen Ung, agreed with Four Corners that his behaviour in the video may also breach other competency guidelines, including those that said it was poor behaviour if a surgeon "lacks awareness that certain behaviours are disrespectful towards others" and "participates in or makes derogatory jokes".
"We made it clear that we denounce any of that sort of behaviour," Professor Ung said.
"Surgeons are held to high standards, as they should do in the community, and we take it very, very seriously.
"So, if one of our members transgresses from what we think is acceptable, appropriate behaviour, or is respectful, professional behaviour, we have to call out for what it is."
Professor Owen Ung is the president of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. (Four Corners)
Neurosurgeon Ruth Mitchell, who worked at The Alfred with Mr Malham, preferred not to say what her thoughts were about him, but she did comment more generally about what she saw as a very sexist surgical culture in the field of neurosurgery. Of the roughly 300 neurosurgeons in Australia, only 16 per cent are women.
"What I worry about is like a generation of female surgical trainees … who've had to do the emotional labour of tone policing or, you know, behaviour managing, managing up their seniors who really aren't behaving professionally," Dr Mitchell said.
"The impact that has on the rest of your learning. You're meant to be learning how to operate. You're meant to be learning how to manage complex conditions."
All of the 25 neurosurgeons at Epworth are men. When Professor Stripp was asked if this was acceptable in 2025, his response was a very curt "No".
"We'd like to see that improved," Professor Stripp said.
"It is not OK," said Dr Mitchell.
"We can't get comfortable with it. It's not normal."
Ruth Mitchell says neurosurgery is a male-dominated field. (Four Corners)
Yumiko Kadota is now a cosmetic physician, but she spent nine months as a neurosurgery resident and left surgical training because of the toxic, male-dominated culture.
She posted on Instagram about the corflute video being reminiscent of the "toxic dude-bro culture" she had witnessed in her training and was flooded with responses from "disgusted" women, including some who had worked with Mr Malham.
"And the stories are sad, but not at all surprising to me just because I have seen similar behaviours in the past," Dr Kadota said.
"It's a typical locker room chat where you can get away with saying misogynistic things to the other lads in the locker room and get away with it because there's no-one holding you accountable.
"And when you work in a male-dominated specialty like neurosurgery, there aren't that many people around who put you in your place."
Yumiko Kadota was training to be a neurosurgeon but left due to the culture. (Four Corners)
'Why is she with him?'
Warning: The following sections contain references to suicide.
There was an incident that current and former Epworth staff repeatedly raised in relation to Dr Malham: his relationship with a 34-year-old nurse at the hospital who suicided in September 2014.
The nurse's name was Laura Heffernan, and in her suicide note, she blamed Mr Malham for her decision to take her life.
The note formed part of a coronial brief that has not been made public until now — the entire brief was released to Four Corners because the Victorian State Coroner accepted it was in the public interest.
Apologising to her parents, Laura wrote in the note that she loved Greg with all her heart and could not "believe it was all lies and fake".
Laura had been contacted by Mr Malham's ex-wife to say that he had been sleeping with both of them and lying to them.
"I feel disgusting & used & humiliated & ashamed," Laura wrote.
"I don't think the pain of how someone could be so hurtful & f***ed up & totally made me think they loved me & wanted a life with me will ever go away. It just hurts so much."
Laura was very popular at the hospital, and Epworth nurses who worked with her felt uncomfortable about the power dynamic between the star neurosurgeon and the much younger nurse. Some told Four Corners that Mr Malham was inappropriately persistent in his attentions.
"We found out that Laura was with Greg, and honestly, it was a little bit of a shock given his reputation," Katie said.
"She was quiet, you know, quite dainty and just a nice sort of girl. And he was this outspoken, powerful, sort of obnoxious man."
Katie remembered how, before they started dating, he would check the roster to see what time Laura was starting and finishing and leave chocolates for her, which none of the other surgeons would do.
Laura Heffernan was a highly regarded and popular nurse at Epworth. (Supplied)
Another former Epworth nurse, Ruth, who was close friends with Laura and was a key coronial witness because she was one of the last people at the hospital to speak to her alive, said that in the early stages, Laura found Mr Malham's attentions "quite claustrophobic".
"She was really professional and really good at what she did, and I think she probably felt that that, at times, was a bit intense," said Ruth, who left the hospital in 2015.
"I think a lot of us were thinking, 'Why is she with him?'" Katie remembered.
'A waste of a beautiful life'
Ruth, Katie and the other nurses noticed a sudden change in Laura after the relationship with the powerful neurosurgeon abruptly ended — Ruth remembers hugging her and recoiling because she was so thin.
"And following that time, she just became really depressed," Katie said.
"She'd lost a lot of weight. She pretty much looked as if she'd lost the will to live."
The coronial brief shows Laura discovered Mr Malham cheated on her with the second of his now four wives and lied to both of them for months.
She sent her girlfriends a distressed email:
"I wanted you girls to know how f***ed up Greg is … I spoke to his ex-wife today … She knew that we were both being totally duped. Greg's told me lie after lie and is unable to give the truth when face to face … She thinks he has Narcissistic Personality Disorder … I'm so ashamed, embarrassed and humiliated … He is such a bad person. How can you think you can know someone when they can be that evil?"
A supportive doctor offered to accompany Laura to complain to Epworth management about Mr Malham, but Laura told the doctor words to the effect of "no, he's too powerful".
In September 2014, eight months after she started dating Mr Malham, Laura pulled up next to a park near her home in Thornbury in Melbourne's inner north and killed herself.
"The last text she sent to me was just hugs and kisses," a tearful Ruth said.
"As time went on, I was just angry, I suppose, that he could treat someone as lovely as Laura the way he treated her."
Laura's mother, Christine Heffernan, said she did not understand why her daughter loved Mr Malham so much, but that Laura had blamed her decision to kill herself on him.
"So, to me, to this day, it's just a waste of a beautiful life," Ms Heffernan said.
"None of it will ever make sense ― he wasted her life."
Christine Heffernan mourns the loss of her daughter Laura. (Four Corners)
Mr Malham never contacted the Heffernan family after Laura's death.
He never responded to investigating police, despite repeated requests and the fact that he was not under suspicion.
"People were angry, really angry at him," Ruth said.
"Nurses that worked in theatre were angry, and I remember nurses refusing to work with him because of what he had done to Laura and how he treated her."
Ruth became close friends with Laura Heffernan after meeting at Epworth. (Four Corners)
Katie was one of the nurses who refused to work with Mr Malham after Laura's death, and she remembered how one nurse left Epworth because of it.
"One of the nurses sort of spoke up for Laura, and there were some interviews with her, with management, and soon after, she had left," Katie said.
"Her concerns were Laura's mental health was deteriorating as a result of being with Greg, and she felt like there were some people that needed to be more accountable for that. There should have been a bit more of an intervention before she died.
"I think any workplace should have part responsibility in the health of their workers, and Laura was on the decline, and it was very obvious ― it was extremely obvious."
A culture called into question
Many people told Four Corners that these types of surgeons brought in so much money for hospitals that management was loath to intervene when there were red flags about their behaviour.
"They're the top of the food chain," said Ruth.
"They are seen as almost untouchable.
"I think in that culture, it's expected that you are going to get treated not well at times — you know, yelled at, you know, spoken down to."
Professor Stripp can't address Mr Malham's treatment of Laura for legal reasons, but he had a personal message to any man in a position of power at the hospital who behaves inappropriately.
"I think it [is] important to understand such behaviour is unacceptable at Epworth Healthcare and will become known and we will address it," Professor Stripp said, agreeing that this meant "zero tolerance".
Epworth says it has a zero tolerance policy for inappropriate behaviour by men in powerful positions at the hospital. (Four Corners)
The staff who worked with Mr Malham over many years are speaking out because they say change is desperately needed.
"The system's so broken," Maddison said.
"And if people don't speak up, then the culture continues."
Mr Malham did not respond to any of Four Corners' detailed questions, but in a preliminary call, he said the corflute video was intended as a joke amongst a small group of friends and that his fondness for mobster movies had been misinterpreted. Mr Malham pointed to his long and successful career at Epworth.
Despite the scandal following the corflute video and his departure from Epworth, Mr Malham is now operating at Melbourne's Warringal Private Hospital, whose code of conduct says it has zero tolerance for inappropriate behaviour.
Warringal's owner, Ramsay Health Care, said in a statement to Four Corners that Mr Malham has "temporary credentialling" and his application for full credentialling was "currently progressing".
It said all practitioners seeking to work there must agree to uphold its code of conduct and values.
Watch Four Corners' full investigation, God Complex, tonight from 8:30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
