A doctor has been struck off after repeatedly saying in online posts that women deserved to be raped and posting “gruesome” images of dead people and victims of violence.
Dr Christopher Kwan Chen Lee also shared identifiable patient images and private health records as well as intimate images of his wife which he posted without her permission between 2016 and 2019.
Then a junior emergency department doctor at hospitals in Victoria and Tasmania, he was suspended under emergency powers in June 2019 following complaints about the posts on Facebook and a Singaporean internet forum.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal heard his posts included images of bodies with missing limbs, deceased foetuses, a small girl who had died after a head injury and one of a mangled skull with the comment: “I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.”
He also made a series of misogynistic, derogatory and racist comments on the forum, including several where he called for women to be “slashed” and another where he said he could “easily” kick a handicapped person in the head.
Dr Lee, now 35, had been prolific on the forums, where he made multiple references to his work as a doctor and regularly offered flippant medical advice to other users.
He wrote that professional standards did not apply to his comments because “[other users] are retarded if they think an Australian employee can lose his job over something that occurred in a Singaporean forum”.
But in findings handed down this month, the tribunal found him guilty of professional misconduct, banning him from reapplying for registration until at least December 2023.
The Medical Board of Australia had argued for a longer cancellation, saying Dr Lee should not be allowed to practice until June 2025 at the earliest.
This reflected his extreme comments, as a general and specific deterrent, and the need to protect the reputation of the profession, lawyers for the board argued.
However, the tribunal found that given his relative youth and “reasonable level of insight and remorse”, a total ban of 4.5 years was appropriate.
His diagnosis with Autism Spectrum Disorder at the time of his suspension was another mitigating factor, the tribunal said.
It noted a forensic psychiatrist appointed by the board had found Dr Lee’s problematic internet use was “causally linked”, to both his ASD and long standing poor self-esteem.