Hong Kong hospital medic has misconduct conviction overturned
Prescribing medicine for his family without them attending clinic was not serious enough to warrant criminal prosecution, judges find
A public doctor convicted of misconduct for prescribing medicine to his parents and son without them attending his clinic won an appeal yesterday after the court decided it did not warrant criminal prosecution.
Ho was employed by the Hospital Authority and worked at the outpatient clinic in the Central Kowloon Health Centre at the time. His parents were in Australia, and his son was attending kindergarten in Hong Kong at the time of the supposed consultations - between June 2007 and November 2008. On each occasion, Ho wrote the consultation summaries and prescribed medicines on the computer system, then obtained the prescriptions.
The trial heard Ho diagnosed his parents over the telephone, while his son was diagnosed at home. In allowing the appeal, the five-judge panel before the Court of Final Appeal noted that the Hospital Authority had no express rule that a doctor must diagnose patients in a clinic.
Mr Justice Patrick Chan Siu-oi wrote in the judgment handed down yesterday that there was no challenge to the fact Ho had gone through the normal procedure with the intention of obtaining medicine for his relatives without them attending the clinic.
"Some might consider [attending the clinic] unnecessary, bearing in mind the close relationship between them," the judge said. "After all, the prescription was indeed given by a doctor of the clinic and the appellant paid the requisite fee."
The judge also noted that it had not been proven that Ho's action had deprived the public of medical services. Chan said the only favour the doctor's relatives had obtained was that they did not have to attend the clinic.