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A Melbourne doctor who repeatedly called for women to be raped in online posts has been suspended indefinitely by Australia's health regulator.
Key points:
- Dr Christopher Kwan Chen Lee was initially suspended for six weeks in April
- The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency has now suspended him indefinitely
- Dr Lee was a vocal member of Singaporean chat rooms, where he wrote derogatory and violent comments
Christopher Kwan Chen Lee was suspended for six weeks in April after being found guilty of professional misconduct, including making "inappropriate comments" in Singaporean chat rooms.
The posts, brought before a tribunal, included comments such as: "Some women deserve to be raped, and that supercilious little bitch fits the bill in every way".
His suspension was due to end on June 11, but the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has confirmed it has suspended Dr Lee's registration indefinitely, effective yesterday.
"The Board has taken this action in the public interest to maintain confidence in the medical profession," AHPRA said in a statement.
AHPRA does not have the legal power to completely deregister medical practitioners — that decision has to be made by an independent tribunal.
Dr Lee was working as a registrar at Melbourne's Box Hill Hospital when he was found guilty by the Tasmanian Health Practitioners Tribunal, and had formerly worked at the Royal Hobart Hospital and a hospital in Traralgon.
Box Hill Hospital is a part of Eastern Health, one of Melbourne's largest public health services.
A self-described 'mongrel doctor'
Dr Lee's comments were widely condemned by doctors. The president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association, Julian Rait, said attitudes that condoned violence against women had "no place in the medical profession".
Dr Lee was prolific in Singaporean chat rooms, where he described himself as a "mongrel doctor" and made consistent references to his work as a doctor, including posting photos of himself in scrubs.
In one of the posts seen by the Tasmanian tribunal, he said:
"If my marriage fell apart, it would not end in divorce. It would end in murder.
"I am a medical practitioner. I also have a foul mouth and call a spade a spade.
"I can just as easily condemn your mother for a whore."
In the April 17 tribunal decision, chairman Robert Webster said Dr Lee's comments were "disrespectful of women", "racially discriminatory" and had "potential to cause harm to the public".
Topics: health, domestic-violence, community-and-society, doctors-and-medical-professionals, internet-culture, social-media, discrimination, box-hill-3128, traralgon-3844, melbourne-3000, vic, hobart-7000, tas