Doctor Who Made Derogatory Comments in Hardwarezone Forums Now Suspended ‘Indefinitely’

A doctor is under the Hippocratic Oath to uphold specific ethical standards such as medical confidentiality, non-maleficence and beneficence.

One doctor though seems to have thrown all manner of propriety and decency out the window.

And for that, he has been suspended indefinitely by The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

Doctor Christopher Kwan Chen Lee

According to ABC Australia, Doctor Christopher Kwan Chen Lee, 31, has been suspended indefinitely by the AHPRA, the nation’s health regulator, effectively from June 6 2019.

He was previously serving a suspension of 6 weeks and was slated to return to duties on 11 June 2019.

His previous suspension came after he was found guilty of professional misconduct.

If this sounds familiar, here’s why.

Making Inappropriate Comments on HardwareZone

In April this year, the Tasmanian Health Practitioners Tribunal found Lee guilty of professional misconduct while making inappropriate comments on popular Singapore forum, HardwareZone, in December 2016.

He was working and residing in Hobart at the point in time.

During a tribunal hearing, some of Lee’s derogatory remarks were listed by Chairman Robert Webster.

“She needs to be abandoned in India and repeatedly raped in order for her to wake up her idea.

“If my marriage fell apart, it would not end in divorce. It would end in murder.

“I am a medical practitioner and I also have a foul mouth and call a spade a spade.

“I can just as easily condemn your mother for a whore.”

In handing out the decision on April 17, Mr Webster said Dr Lee’s comments were “disrespectful of women”, “racially discriminatory” and had “potential to cause harm to the public”.

A Longer And Indefinite Sentence

Despite the 6-weeks suspension, the AHPRA has further undertaken the decision to serve Lee with a further indefinite suspension.

ABC Australia notes that “AHPRA does not have the legal power to completely deregister medical practitioners — that decision has to be made by an independent tribunal”.

“The Victorian Branch of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) [has]called for the Medical Board of Australia to show “zero tolerance” to Dr Lee.”

“Mongrel” Doctor

Describing himself as a “mongrel” doctor online, Lee frequently posted photos of himself in scrubs and had regularly invited forum users to ask him questions.

He was also found to have free dispensed medical advise and spoke liberally about his salary.

In one response to a question posed by a user, he said he had “no regrets whatsoever” about posting explicit photos of another user.

In July 2018, Dr Lee was issued a separate caution after accessing a patient’s medical records “without consent or clinical need”, according to ABC Australia.

Dr Lee was previously employed by the Tasmania Health Service between February 2016 and February 2018 and as an emergency medicine registrar at the Royal Hobart Hospital in 2016 before joining the Launceston General Hospital in 2017.

He became an emergency registrar at Victoria’s Box Hill Hospital in January 2019.

Moral of the story? Be careful of what you post online because what you put out there has consequences.