GP who poisoned mother’s partner during fake Covid jab appointment struck off

A GP who poisoned his mother’s partner during a fake Covid jab appointment has been erased from the medical register.

Thomas Kwan was charged by police last year following a report of ‘suspected poisoning’ in Newcastle and was sentenced to 31 years and five months in prison in November.

He sent counterfeit NHS letters to his mother’s then-partner, claiming he was due to have an injection and arranged to visit the man at his home, wearing a disguise.

In the hours after receiving the injection, the man became ‘seriously unwell’, with a ‘serious skin condition developing around the injection area’ and he was later admitted to hospital, and had to have ‘numerous operations’ to repair the damage the poisoning caused to his body. He has been left with ‘life-changing injuries’ following the incident.

Now a Medical Practitioners Service Tribunal (MPTS) panel has considered the details of the case and determined that Dr Kwan’s fitness to practise is currently impaired ‘by reason of his conviction for a criminal offence’.

The tribunal considered that the offence was ‘motivated by financial gain’, involved ‘a significant amount of planning’, involving ‘sophisticated deceptions’ which led the victim to believe that he was participating in an NHS covid vaccination programme intended to protect those vulnerable to the disease.

It also involved Kwan gaining access to ‘chemicals and poisons’, using ‘deceptive measures in order to conceal any trail’.

MPTS tribunal chair Gerry Wareham said: ‘The tribunal found it to be particularly concerning that Dr Kwan referred to the injection of iodomethane as “an isolated, unprecedented mistake”, and was surprised by the relevance he seemed to find in the claim that there was no clinical data available on iodomethane as “no one has ever been injected with the chemical” and so he was not aware of the potential effects such as pain and necrotising fasciitis.

‘He then went on to state that the injection of “vaccination dosage of 1.5ml, at very much below the lethal dosage exposure is evident of no intent of serious injury.”

‘The tribunal found that this was indicative of a lack of insight and acceptance of responsibility for his actions, and portrayed an absence of remorse.’

The tribunal concluded that Kwan’s conviction was ‘fundamentally incompatible with continued registration’.

Mr Wareham said: ‘The tribunal was of the view that a particularly aggravating factor in this case was the abuse of Dr Kwan’s profession by virtue of his use of his medical knowledge and of the practise and workings of the NHS to commit his crime.

‘Dr Kwan has used the falsified letters and communications and used the NHS as cover to invade a private home and attack his victim. His crime had been widely reported and carried the risk that public trust in communications from and interactions with the NHS could be undermined.’

The tribunal determined to erase Kwan’s name from the GMC registers and to impose an immediate order of suspension to cover the 28-day appeal period.

Mr Wareham added: ‘The tribunal had no doubt that a sanction of erasure was the only outcome that would adequately mark the seriousness of the conviction, protect the public, maintain public confidence in the profession and promote and maintain proper standards of conduct for members of the profession.

‘The Tribunal has therefore directed that Dr Kwan’s name be erased from the Medical Register.’

Kwan qualified in 1996 at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. At the time of the events he was practising as a GP at the Happy House Surgery in Sunderland.

Pulse has approached the surgery for comment.