Woman in Wake Up Singapore KKH miscarriage article to be charged with defamation
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05 May 2024 05:57PM (Updated: 05 May 2024 06:23PM)
SINGAPORE: A woman who was cited in a Wake Up Singapore (WUSG) report about a purported miscarriage that occurred at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) will be charged in court on Monday (May 6) with defamation, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said on Sunday.
The woman, now 27, will be the second person charged with defamation in relation to the article. WUSG's founder and administrator Ariffin Iskandar Sha Ali Akbar was charged last month with the same offence over its publication.
The article, titled "The baby is probably dead – Woman shares a harrowing account of her miscarriage at KKH A&E", was published by the alternative news source in March 2022.
It alleged that mismanagement on the part of KKH resulted in the woman suffering a miscarriage after a four-hour wait at the hospital on Feb 28, 2022, in which she was left unattended.
Following the woman's claim, KKH stated that there were no records of such an incident occurring at the hospital and subsequently filed a police report.
The woman then admitted to WUSG that her claims were untrue, prompting the latter to issue an apology.
"Upon receiving the police report from KKH, the police consulted the Attorney-General’s Chambers and were authorised to investigate the matter," SPF said in a news release.
"Investigations found that the 27-year-old woman had purportedly sent messages from her Instagram account to the Instagram account of WUSG, detailing how she had suffered a miscarriage at KKH. Further investigations found that the allegations made by the 27-year-old woman were untrue."
For publishing the false claims, WUSG was issued a correction direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) said at the time that KKH had identified the patient and found that the woman had been seen by a doctor within an hour of her arrival at the hospital. MOH also said that she "did not suffer any miscarriage".
WUSG published correction notices soon after.
Ariffin's case will return to court on May 24.
Those found guilty of defamation face up to two years in jail, a fine, or both.
