A medical practitioner who was suspended after making a series of “inflammatory, misogynistic and racist” online posts while working at the Royal Hobart Hospital has had his suspension extended pending further investigation. The Medical Board of Australia issued a press release this morning announcing it had suspended the registration of Dr Christopher Kwan Chen Lee, effective from yesterday. “The Board has taken this action in the public interest to maintain confidence in the medical profession,” the release said. Dr Lee, 31, was taken to the Tasmanian Health Practitioners Tribunal by the Medical Board and was found guilty of professional misconduct at a hearing in Hobart earlier this year. Tribunal chairman Robert Webster said Dr Lee made inappropriate statements on internet forums and chat sites in December 2016 while he was working as an emergency medicine registrar at the Royal. He was employed at the hospital from February 2016 to February 2018 and also worked some of that time at the Launceston General Hospital. He is now based in Victoria. On Singaporean online forum Hardware Zone, Dr Lee posted a series of remarks in the context of a situation in Singapore/Malaysia where a local female college student had made disparaging remarks about servicemen. His posts included: — “This kind will never learn. She needs to be abandoned in India and repeatedly raped in order for her to wake up her idea.” — “Some women deserve to be raped, and that supercilious little bitch fits the bill in every way.” — “I will not conform to your ridiculous moral standards and your expectations of what a doctor should or should not say.” — “I am a medical practitioner. I also have a foul mouth and call a spade a spade.” Chairman Webster said Dr Lee had understood his posts could be seen as “inflammatory, misogynistic or racist in tone.” Dr Lee was suspended for six weeks and ordered to complete a program on ethical behaviour and communications, particularly in the use of social media. Dr Lee’s suspension was due to end on Tuesday, but it will now be ongoing while the Medical Board conducts an investigation. “The Board will not be making any further comment in relation to Dr Lee at this time,” the release said. The Medical Board does not have the legal power to deregister a practitioner — only an independent tribunal can cancel a practitioner’s registration.
