A Tasmanian doctor has lost his medical licence and been banned from practising for six years after bombarding police, health regulators and politicians with thousands of profanity-laced emails.
The Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal found Dr Regan Shaw had engaged in serious professional misconduct by sending what was described as a “relentless barrage” of threats and abuse.
The emails, peppered with extreme profanity and attacks, were sent to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, Tasmania Police, government ministers and other officials between November 2022 and May 2024.
In one particularly disturbing exchange, Shaw threatened to deny medical treatment to police officers and their families, telling one: “I’ll leave you and your family for dead in the ditch.”
The tirade began after Shaw’s relationship ended in 2021. He subsequently lodged complaints with Tasmania Police about his ex-partner, including allegations of assault and mail tampering.
He became frustrated by what he perceived as inadequate police responses, the tribunal said.
Emails provided to the tribunal showed Shaw routinely referred to officials as “c–ts”, “n–is” and “woke a–licking” bureaucrats.
In one email to health regulators, he wrote: “You may see my ‘number of emails’ as a problem. Problem is c–t, we live in a democracy.”
The abuse didn’t stop at emails. In May 2023, Shaw was convicted of using abusive language towards police officers who came to his home to serve court documents.
Body-worn camera footage captured him repeatedly calling the officers “c–ts”.
Even as the tribunal proceedings played out, Shaw showed no sign of remorse.
He refused to attend a mandatory psychiatric assessment and continued his email bombardment, sending nearly 700 messages to the Medical Board’s lawyers alone.
“[His] language and tone in the emails … would be considered by the vast majority of the public and the respondent’s professional peers as being generally offensive and unacceptable and substantially below the standard reasonably expected of any registered medical practitioner,” the tribunal found.
Alongside the six-year ban and cancelled registration, Shaw has been ordered to cover 90% of the Medical Board’s legal costs – a bill expected to run into the tens of thousands.
