Doctor serving 31 years for attempted murder in UK prison has Irish registration cancelled

Thomas Kwan was posing as a community nurse giving a covid booster jab when he injected a man with a toxin that left him with a life-threatening flesh-eating disease

British GP Thomas Kwan, who disguised himself and masqueraded as a community worker injected his mother's partner with a poison in a row over an inheritance, was in November last year jailed for 31 years and five months. File photo

A doctor who is serving over 31 years in a British prison for attempted murder has had his Irish registration cancelled by the High Court.

The move comes after the Medical Council of Ireland applied to the court to have the registration of Dr Thomas Kwan cancelled in what the President of the High Court noted was one of the most serious cases to come before the court professional disciplinary list.

British GP Thomas Kwan, who disguised himself and masqueraded as a community worker injected his mother's partner with a poison in a row over an inheritance, was in November last year jailed for 31 years and five months.

The doctor was first registered in this country in January 2022 and was on the specialist division of the register of medical practitioners. The High Court on Monday heard the Medical Council was satisfied that registration cancellation was an appropriate sanction arising from Kwan’s conviction.

Thomas Kwan, aged 53, who lived in Stockton-on-Tees and worked in Sunderland, was posing as a community nurse giving a covid booster jab when he injected Patrick O'Hara, aged 71, with a toxin in Newcastle.

Mr O'Hara contracted a life-threatening flesh-eating disease which caused horrific injuries and has been left with physical and psychological damage.

Kwan, who admitted attempted murder after the first day of his trial in the UK, was described as "calculated and callous" by the sentencing judge. 

The judge also noted it was an "audacious" and extensively planned scheme to "kill a man in plain sight", which nearly worked. Passing sentence the judge said the matter "struck at the heart of public confidence" in the health system.

Monday's proceedings

In the High Court in Dublin on Monday, Mr Justice David Barniville commented that it was “a particularly serious application” and said the Medical Council had decided that Kwan was a person who had permanently ceased to be a fit and proper person to practise medicine.

Mr Justice Barniville who noted the procedures applied by the Medical Council of Ireland were impeccable said it was impossible to imagine any other sanction than cancellation that would be appropriate in the circumstances.

Dr Kwan had previously been suspended by the Irish High Court from practising in this country but the Medical Council had applied on Monday to the court to have his registration cancelled.

Outlining the case, Mr Justice Barniville noted the Medical Council had sought information about Dr Kwan after it became aware of media reports of the attempted murder charge. The Medical Council sought further information and was later informed that Kwan’s registration in the UK had been suspended.

In June of last year, the Irish High Court had suspended the registration of Kwan and he was prohibited from engaging in the practise of medicine until further order of the court.

In June of this year the Medical Council of Ireland decided to impose the sanction of cancellation of Kwan’s Irish registration.

It took into the account the nature of the offence committed and considered it to be most serious and said it was satisfied that Kwan had used his status as a doctor to plan and commit the crime.

The Medical Council also said it was in the public interest to act immediately. Confirming the cancellation of Kwan’s registration, Mr Justice Barniville also noted that the Medical Council was not seeking its costs.