2 Tseung Kwan O Hospital doctors arrested over alleged patient data leak
發佈日期: 2025-09-01 21:00
TVB News
Police have arrested two doctors from Tseung Kwan O Hospital on suspicion of leaking patients' data without authorisation.
The hospital has notified both the Medical Council and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data over the matter.
Police and Tseung Kwan O Hospital representatives jointly met the press this morning.
The hospital said it had received an internal complaint alleging that a staff member accessed the Hospital Authority clinical database, browsed patients' records without authorisation and shared the internal information with a third party including patients' address and phone number. The hospital reported the case to police.
Two doctors, 35 years old and 57 years old respectively, were arrested on suspicion of accessing a computer with criminal or dishonest intent.
Police say their investigation is now focusing on how many patients have been affected and the suspects' motives to leak the confidential information.
Kenny Yuen, chief executive of Tseung Kwan O Hospital, says such actions have undermined the trust between patients and doctors, as well as the professional image of medical staff. Earlier, family members of a deceased patient at the hospital received an anonymous email containing surgical details and an audio clip, suggesting a doctor admitted to wrongly piercing a patient's blood vessel.
The hospital says the doctor in question had misspoken and the patient's death was linked to known surgical complications, and the case was referred to the Coroner's Court. So does this case involve internal strife? Yuen stresses while the Hospital Authority has effective channels for whistleblowing in the public interest, all actions must remain lawful, noting that such unofficial tip-offs are deemed inappropriate.
The hospital says the consultant doctor involved has resigned while the associate consultant has been suspended from duty.
Alex Lam, chairman of concern group Hong Kong Patients' Voices, says even with whistleblowing purposes, access to confidential information through illegal channels and data leaks can still come with legal liability and possible consequences for their professional licences.
Family members told TVB News they only learned that the hospital has invited an external team to look into the matter from the press conference criticising the hospital's handling as lacking in transparency.
