Hospital Authority dismisses resident doctor over unauthorised exam linked to sacked intern girlfriend
Hong Kong authorities have dismissed a doctor for conducting an unauthorised examination, after his trainee doctor girlfriend was earlier sacked for accessing patient records without approval.
The Hospital Authority (HA) said in a Monday statement that the unnamed resident doctor at Tuen Mun Hospital was involved in conducting an unauthorised examination on a patient at Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai βin breach of professional ethics and integrity.β
βThe incident is linked to an intern doctor who was previously dismissed for a series of serious [instances of] misconduct,β the statement read.
The doctorβs dismissal follows his suspension earlier this month alongside his girlfriend, after their alleged professional misconduct went viral on social media.
The authority βunequivocally condemnedβ the misconduct on Monday, saying that it has dismissed the resident and will refer the case to the Medical Council.
βZero toleranceβ
The resident doctor conducted the unauthorised examination at Ruttonjee Hospital at the request of his girlfriend, who was interning at the hospital. The authority said this month that it had previously βseriously warnedβ the intern over the incident.
βThe investigation committee concluded that the resident doctor acted dishonestly and committed serious misconduct, in breach of doctorsβ professional ethics and integrity,β the authority said on Monday.
βThe HA has absolutely zero tolerance for any form of behaviour that undermines the professional conduct of doctors. The HA will not permit any doctor who fails to meet the relevant requirements to practise in public hospitals, in order to safeguard patient safety,β the statement said.
Earlier this month, the trainee doctor was suspended from clinical duties over unauthorised access to patient records and sacked a day later.
She was then arrested on suspicion of access to a computer with criminal or dishonest intent.
She logged into the Clinical Management System at Caritas Medical Centre (CMC), where she was interning on a different rotation, and accessed patient records at Tuen Mun Hospital without authorisation, according to the HA.
The authority said it had previously taken disciplinary action against the pair for the inappropriate act at CMC.
The authority suspended the pair after the intern doctor posted a photo of herself usingΒ medical equipment without authorisation to X-ray her own knee. The Instagram Story went viral, prompting the HAβs move.