Bill Bateman

Dr. Bill Bateman is an Australian experienced family physician and crime fiction author. His debut medical thriller, Hard Labour, was published in early 2017.

Bill Bateman practiced medicine for 25 years on Victoria's southwest coast. He is a former rural "cradle to the grave" family GP. Bateman has delivered over 800 babies in country practice.

Currently, he works at an inner suburban GP practice and a drop-in clinic for the homeless. He was the author of a fortnightly column in The Australian Doctor, a national medical magazine, and now turns his pen to novel writing.

His first crime fiction, Hard Labour, introduces the protagonist of the future series Vince, who was a big-shot OB-GYN in Melbourne until one disastrous patient outcome saw him banned from specialist practice, exiled to Warrnambool on Victoria’s southwest coast, working as a GP under the strict supervision of the Medical Board.

In 2019 he published a sequel book, You're Never The Same. In the second novel, the story revolves around the suicide of Vince's brother, his sister-in-law's investigation into the cause, and the revelation that his brother was a victim of a pedophile priest. The events shed light on the widespread issue of the Catholic Church's misconduct in Ballarat and throughout Australia. The novel combines Vince's professional struggles and a high-risk delivery that jeopardizes his medical career with his challenges.

Photo credit: FB @billbatemanauthor