A tribunal has heard evidence from the former consultant medical services director at Djerriwarrh Health Services, who is accused of governance failings during a period in which several babies were stillborn or died.
A review found there were seven infant deaths at Djerriwarrh Health Service in 2013 and 2014 that could have been avoided.
Lee Gruner is not accused of having any responsibility for the deaths, but she contests the Medical Board's allegations that she should have known she was not able to meet the requirements of her role.
In her evidence to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Dr Gruner outlined her "unusual" consultant role at Djerriwarrh from 2009 to 2015.
Under cross-examination from counsel Ben Jellis, Dr Gruner said she had never once seen a written contract and role description during her six-year employment.
Instead, she said she had a "verbal" contract with former Djerriwarrh chief executive Bruce Marshall.
She said Mr Marshall had told her she had "no authority" and was in "no way" in a position of leadership.
Dr Gruner said she was excluded from executive meetings.
'They didn't know I existed'
Dr Gruner said in her evidence that she had been told by Mr Marshall that he did not want her to directly speak to him about issues at the hospital.
Rather, she said, it was understood she was to work as an advisory role to the hospital's director of clinical and quality support services, Elizabeth Wilson.
The tribunal heard Mr Marshall, in an interview with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, had denied saying that to Dr Gruner, calling it "preposterous".
"The service didn't know I existed … the doctors didn't know I existed," Dr Gruner said in evidence.
"The CEO told me directly he didn't want me in a substantive role.
"He gave me written instructions that said I was not to undermine Ms Wilson's authority.
"I was not to talk to the doctors behind her back … he told me I was not to be in a position where the doctors could contact me.
She agreed with a suggestion by Mr Jellis that she should have rejected a role that was so time-limited, but felt at the time she did what she thought was "best".
Mr Jellis put to Dr Gruner that she had been "very complimentary' of director of obstetrics Surinder Parhar during a 2013 review of Djerriwarrh's maternity services.
Dr Parhar was last year formally reprimanded and disqualified from applying to practise medicine for 12 years after a finding of professional misconduct related to his time at the service.
Dr Gruner said under cross-examination that she had not seen Dr Parhar in a practice before the audit, but that was not unusual.
The tribunal will review the evidence before it presents any findings.
