GP Thomas Kwan ruled unfit to work as doctor

A disguise-wearing GP who tried to kill his mother’s partner with poison in a row over an inheritance is unfit to work as a doctor, a medical panel has concluded.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service said Thomas Kwan, 54, who was jailed for attempting to murder Patrick O’Hara in Newcastle, was “impaired” as a doctor, had brought the profession into “disrepute” and had shown no remorse.

A decision on what sanction to impose on Kwan, who lived in Ingleby Barwick and worked in Sunderland, will be announced on Wednesday, the panel said.

The General Medical Council (GMC) said he should face “erasure” while Kwan said he accepted the panel’s finding and “sincerely apologised” for his actions.

The tribunal was held online with Kwan attending via telephone from HMP Frankland having been jailed for 31 years and five months after admitting attempted murder.

The GMC had earlier argued he should be found to be unfit to practice, while Kwan claimed his actions were unrelated to his work as a doctor and he had had an “unblemished” career.

The panel said Kwan’s actions “breached a fundamental tenet of the profession”, which is that doctors “should act with integrity and within the law”.

Kwan had “brought the profession into disrepute”, the panel said.

“It was evident he used his medical knowledge and professional experience in order to gain the trust of [Mr O’Hara] and to carry out the crime.”

They therefore “disagreed” with Kwan’s claims his crimes were unconnected to his role as a doctor, adding they “found his inability or reluctance to see that link, and the harm thereby caused to the reputation of the medical profession, was relevant evidence of his lack of insight”.

The panel also said Kwan’s claim in a document submitted to the tribunal that the administering of the toxin, iodomethane, was an “isolated unprecedented mistake” was “particularly concerning”.

They said Kwan’s claim that he had not known of the potential effects of injecting the toxin, which led to Mr O’Hara contracting necrotising fasciitis and having to have parts of his arm removed, was “surprising”.

The panel also took issue with Kwan’s claims that his administering only a small dosage to Mr O’Hara was “evident of no intent of serious injury”.

The tribunal said that claim was “indicative of a lack of insight and acceptance of responsibility for his actions” and “portrayed an absence of remorse” towards Kwan’s victim.

Kwan had also sought to downplay his creation of fake NHS letters to set up the appointment at Mr O’Hara’s home and claimed the victim should have checked to see if they came from a genuine organisation, the tribunal said.

The panel said that was “another attempt to distance [Kwan’s] criminality from his profession” and indicated Kwan was “seeking to place blame on his victim” which was “again underlining a profound lack of insight and remorse”.

The tribunal said Kwan had “not provided any evidence of genuine remorse” and “remained a risk of repetition [of offending] and of potential harm to the public”.

“Kwan’s actions in seeking to murder for financial gain, and his willingness to use his medical experience and skills in doing so, indicated a clear risk of harm to future patients,” the panel concluded.

The tribunal also said other doctors would expect Kwan to be found unfit to practice medicine.

Alex Mullen, counsel for the GMC, told the panel the only appropriate sanction was “erasure” of Kwan from medical registers.

When asked what representations he wished to make, Kwan said he wanted to “sincerely apologise” to his victim, Mr O’Hara’s family, the doctor’s ex-colleagues and family and “anybody who has been affected by my actions”.

“I accept the sanctions being placed upon me by the tribunal and I have nothing further to say,” Kwan said.

The tribunal continues.