Dentist to sue after mix-up with sex felon

A CHINESE University dentist is preparing a lawsuit over an identity mix-up which has caused him to be confused with a colleague convicted of sexual and indecent assaults.

Dr Yip Kar-leung, [** see spelling correction **] who practises in the university's health centre, claims patients, peers and bosses have questioned him over publicity surrounding another dentist, also named Dr Yip Kar-leung, against whom he is planning the legal action.

The latter Dr Yip, an oral and maxiofacial surgeon, was jailed in Canada for sexually assaulting female patients after placing them under anaesthetic.

The specialist, who trained at the University of Western Ontario, returned to Hong Kong after serving two years' jail for 17 assault convictions.

He practised from upmarket offices in Queen's Road, Central, until a Dental Council hearing drew Hong Kong's attention to the Canadian convictions last month. He has since suspended his office appointments and told his pager company to tell callers he has left Hong Kong.

But Dr Yip Kar-leung of the Chinese University has been linked with the latter Dr Yip since the Canadian dentist deleted his Western name, Daniel, and altered the Chinese character strokes on the name-plate outside his Queen's Road premises to characters closer to the university's Dr Yip.

''Of course it's a trauma . . . I'm seeking legal advice,'' Dr Yip said from his university offices.