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Neurosurgeon who breached patient data loses wrongful dismissal suit against SingHealth
The judge said any harm that Dr Tan's career may have suffered in this case has been self-inflicted.PHOTO: ST FILE
SINGAPORE – A neurosurgeon sacked by SingHealth for accessing the medical records of more than 70 patients who were not under his care has lost his wrongful dismissal suit against the healthcare group.
A High Court judge found that the data breach committed by Dr Eddie Tan Tung Wee, 43, was driven by his “single-minded desire to take down” Dr Chen Min Wei, a fellow neurosurgeon at the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI).
Dr Tan had been hired by SingHealth as an associate consultant neurosurgeon on Aug 1, 2018, and promoted to consultant neurosurgeon on Nov 1, 2020.
From 2020, Dr Tan had lodged a series of complaints accusing the neurosurgery department of showing favouritism to Dr Chen, who was a year his junior.
When investigated in 2021 over his data breach, Dr Tan admitted he had accessed patient records without authorisation, but contended that what he had done was justified, as he had a duty to police issues relating to patient safety.
Dr Tan was dismissed on March 14, 2022. He filed the wrongful dismissal suit on June 6, 2023, which was heard over eight days in July and August 2024.
On Jan 21, 2025, Justice Chua Lee Ming dismissed the suit.
In a written judgment, Justice Chua said Dr Tan was not justified in accessing the medical records of patients not under his care.
He rejected the doctor’s argument that a person can access information in breach of confidentiality and not be liable so long as his actions produce information that shows wrongdoing by a third party.
Dr Tan had also argued that he should be given whistle-blower protection against employer retaliation. But the judge said his reliance on whistle-blower protection was misplaced.
He noted that Dr Tan was not dismissed for whistle-blowing but for unauthorised access to patient records. This amounted to breach of patient confidentiality, which was grounds for dismissal under his employment contract.
Issues of patient safety should be raised to the relevant authorities, he said. “It was not for the claimant to carry out his own investigations by breaching patient confidentiality.”
The judge added: “In my view, any harm that the claimant’s career may have suffered in this case has been self-inflicted.”
It also emerged that Dr Tan, who was self-represented, had asked the judge for his full name to be redacted in the event that his claim succeeded.
His reasons for redaction were that his children would grow up spoiled if they thought he was special and potentially rich, and that his family members in Malaysia may be kidnapped for ransom.
Justice Chua said the request was irrelevant, as Dr Tan had not succeeded in his claim, and in any event, the reasons would not have been sufficient grounds for redaction.
Dr Tan’s issues concerning Dr Chen arose in 2020, when Covid-19 protocols prevented healthcare professionals from crossing over to other hospitals.
Dr Tan was stationed at Sengkang General Hospital doing mostly service-related work.
On the other hand, Dr Chen was stationed at Singapore General Hospital (SGH), where he had more opportunities to be exposed to complex neurosurgery cases, including skull base surgery.
This was a sub-speciality that Dr Tan was interested in.
In September 2020, Dr Tan wrote to two heads of department, alleging that Dr Chen was running cases at a clinic of the SGH ear, nose and throat (ENT) department.
He said this violated a rule that associate consultants should not manage patients at sub-speciality clinics. He also provided a list of nine individuals who could speak about Dr Chen.
The heads of department found that his claims were unsubstantiated.
Investigations showed that Dr Chen had attended the ENT clinic as an observer, and his posting to SGH, a major tertiary institution, gave him more opportunities and enabled him to work with a mentor who specialised in skull base surgery.
The heads of department noted that Dr Tan had gone around asking other doctors if they had any issues with Dr Chen, and that other doctors in the department had no disciplinary concerns about Dr Chen.
Dr Tan refused to accept these findings and insisted that disciplinary action should be taken against Dr Chen.
In November 2020, he escalated allegations of “rampant favouritism” to Professor Ivy Ng, SingHealth’s then group chief executive officer.
A review panel, comprising senior consultants and officers who were not part of NNI, concluded that the allegations were unsubstantiated.
Dr Tan made two further complaints to Prof Ng, which led to two committees of inquiry (COIs) being convened to investigate Dr Chen and his mentor, Dr Ramez Kirollos.
In February 2021, he alleged that Dr Chen had operated on a patient listed for surgery under the name of his mentor while Dr Kirollos was in another operating theatre.
Dr Tan alleged that patient safety was seriously compromised, leading to the patient becoming a quadriplegic, and that favouritism was shown to Dr Chen.
The first COI concluded that there was no professional misconduct committed by Dr Chen and Dr Kirollos.
In June 2021, Dr Tan made allegations regarding another patient, who died after emergency surgery.
He claimed that Dr Kirollos was not in the operating theatre for most of the operation, and that Dr Chen had performed most of the surgery.
The second COI found that, given the patient’s dismal condition, the outcome would have remained the same regardless of the approach to surgery.
Meanwhile, a whistle-blower’s report was lodged, alleging that Dr Tan and two other doctors were trying to find fault with Dr Chen and Dr Kirollos, and that Dr Tan had accessed the records of one of their patients.
In October 2021, another COI was convened to investigate whether Dr Tan had committed a pattern of unauthorised access to the case notes and records of patients not under his care.
Dr Tan admitted he had done so, but justified his actions on the grounds that he was guided by his conscience and attempt to expose the unethical practice of his colleagues, particularly Dr Chen.
In January 2022, the COI recommended that Dr Tan be given a warning.
As the case involved data breaches, it was escalated to the SingHealth disciplinary council, comprising the group CEO and five deputy group CEOs.
The council was told that a data audit showed Dr Tan had accessed the records of 72 patients on 103 occasions without authorisation from January to December 2021.
The council unanimously decided to dismiss Dr Tan with immediate effect due to his recalcitrant data breaches and blatant disregard for patient confidentiality and the rules on data security.
In his judgment, Justice Chua said it was purely fortuitous that when the Covid-19 restrictions were implemented, Dr Chen was locked down at SGH and that gave him more opportunities to work with Dr Kirollos.
“It is unfortunate that the claimant’s envy of Dr Chen got the better of him and eventually led him to breach patient confidentiality in his endeavours to take down Dr Chen.”
