Chitchat Unusual Case of Doctor Suspension

scroobal · May 11, 2016

Someone must have tipped off SMC on the relationship between contractor and the doctor. Note that SMC went to Court of Appeal.

http://yourhealth.asiaone.com/conte...fficient-hospitalisation-leave-injured-worker

Doctor suspended for issuing insufficient hospitalisation leave to injured worker

The Straits Times
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
The Straits Times
By Calvin Yang
SINGAPORE - A medical practitioner previously acquitted of issuing insufficient hospitalisation leave to a construction worker who had a fractured hand and inappropriately certifying him to be fit for light duties at work, was on Tuesday (May 10) sentenced to six months' suspension after an appeal by the Singapore Medical Council (SMC).

The SMC had filed an appeal to the Court of Three Judges against the decision last year of a Disciplinary Tribunal to acquit Dr Wong Him Choon, 51, of professional misconduct.

The tribunal had acquitted Dr Wong, an orthopaedic surgeon at the Raffles Orthopaedic Centre in Raffles Hospital, after finding there was no conclusive evidence to show he had failed to comply with the applicable standards of conduct in managing the patient, a construction worker who had injured his right hand in an accident at his work site.

The worker was taken to Raffles Hospital after the accident on Sept 3, 2011, where Dr Wong assessed he had sustained a distal radius fracture and a metacarpal fracture.

Dr Wong performed surgery on the patient's hand at around 1am on Sept 4, and the patient was discharged around 1pm on the same day.

He was issued with a medical certificate to cover the period of hospitalisation and was also certified fit for light duties for a month from Sept 5, 2011.

Under the Medical Registration Act, Dr Wong faced one charge of professional misconduct for giving insufficient hospitalisation leave to the patient despite the severity of his injury and finding him fit for light duties at work immediately after surgery.

The tribunal, which heard the case between June and September last year, found there were no specific guidelines on the giving of medical leave. Also, the amount of medical leave given is exercised by the doctor at his discretion.

But it was agreed that some of the primary factors a doctor should consider before deciding on the type or duration of medical leave include, among others, the type and severity of the illness or injury, the method of treatment used, the amount of recovery time needed post-treatment, and the nature of the patient's occupation.

The tribunal examined whether there was professional misconduct on the part of Dr Wong based on these factors, which would constitute the applicable standards of conduct observed or approved by members of the medical profession, and it found the evidence inconclusive.

The Court of Three Judges, however, noted that Dr Wong had not considered the relevant factors in issuing the medical certificate and had disregarded the patient's well-being.

It ordered him to be censured and suspended from practice for six months, with the suspension to take effect immediately. Dr Wong would also have to bear the SMC's costs for the tribunal's inquiry and the appeal, and give an undertaking to the council that he will abstain in future from any similar conduct.

[email protected]

- See more at: http://yourhealth.asiaone.com/conte...ion-leave-injured-worker#sthash.90Hhmd5V.dpuf

shiokalingam · May 12, 2016

@

http://theindependent.sg/home-disci...nt-step-in-fight-against-unethical-practices/

@

HOME: Disciplinary action against doctor a significant step in fight
against unethical practices

By The Independent -
May 11, 2016 , Tue

On 10 May 2016, the Court of Three Judges heard an appeal filed by the Singapore Medical Council (“SMC”) against the decision of a Disciplinary Tribunal (“DT”) to acquit Dr Wong Him Choon (“Dr Wong”) of professional misconduct.

The Court allowed the SMC’s appeal and convicted Dr Wong of professional misconduct. Dr Wong was sentenced to 6 months’ suspension.

The complaint against the Orthopaedic Surgeon at Raffles Orthopaedic Centre located at Raffles Hospital (“RH”), was lodged by a representative of Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME), an advocacy and welfare group for migrant workers.

The following is HOME’s press statement about the case : -

1) In 2011, Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME) filed a complaint against Dr Wong Him Choon of Raffles Hospital for only issuing 2 days medical leave and subsequently 1 month of light duty leave to a construction worker, despite the fact that he had suffered a fracture which required surgery. We are heartened by the High Court’s decision and glad that justice has been served.

2) The complaint was made because of grave concerns that doctors might be in collusion with companies to discourage workers from taking medical leave, and filing work injury compensation claims, even though the workers were seriously injured.

3) HOME was seeing an average of 15 workers a year from doctors in various private medical clinics and hospitals and we were disturbed by the increase in such cases. We also faced challenges assisting some workers to file complaints against doctors as they were afraid of reprisals from their companies.

4) At the core of these abuses lies the unethical benefits employers gain from their workers only getting 2 day’s medical leave. As it was a requirement for employers to report workplace accidents if the medical leave given was 3 days or more, issuing 2 days gives employers allows employers to escape reporting to the authorities. After much advocacy from NGOs highlighting this loophole in the law, the 3 day medical leave requirement has since been changed.

5) Another significant benefit employers gain from this practice is the maintenance of their safety records, specifically their Loss Time Injury (LTI) record. HOME has encountered a case where a worker’s supervisor told him that the reason his work injury was not reported was to preserve the company’s “no accident” record of over 1 million hours.

6) This results in an unethical and symbiotic relationship between the employer and the doctor as employers are willing to pay a premium for treatment if it means net savings and benefits accrued at the expense of their worker’s well-being, and the doctors are assured a steady flow of patients from companies from the various industries that rely heavily on foreign labour.

7) Other than serving as a barrier to legal recourse for their injuries, issuing insufficient medical leave deprives workers of the much needed rest they need after sustaining such serious injuries. Often times, the injured workers are given ‘light duties’ on top of the 1 or 2 day’s medical leave. Some employers then make the workers do menial office tasks, if the worker wants to be paid wages for the duration that he is on light duties.

8) HOME urges doctors in Singapore to take a stand against such practices because in addition to tarnishing the image of the medical profession, it has adverse consequences for the health and wellbeing of workers.

- End -

chongpangchixwings · May 12, 2016

I bet my last dollar that if the injured party had been a family member or relative of his, Dr Wong's management of this would be vastly different.

scroobal · May 12, 2016

Thanks Bro, this is brilliant, I missed this. Kudos to the NGO for pursuing. No wonder the SMC had to appeal. Disgraceful that the tribunal acquitted him.

shiokalingam said:
@

http://theindependent.sg/home-disci...nt-step-in-fight-against-unethical-practices/

@

HOME: Disciplinary action against doctor a significant step in fight
against unethical practices

By The Independent -
May 11, 2016 , Tue

On 10 May 2016, the Court of Three Judges heard an appeal filed by the Singapore Medical Council (“SMC”) against the decision of a Disciplinary Tribunal (“DT”) to acquit Dr Wong Him Choon (“Dr Wong”) of professional misconduct.

The Court allowed the SMC’s appeal and convicted Dr Wong of professional misconduct. Dr Wong was sentenced to 6 months’ suspension.

The complaint against the Orthopaedic Surgeon at Raffles Orthopaedic Centre located at Raffles Hospital (“RH”), was lodged by a representative of Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME), an advocacy and welfare group for migrant workers.

Hans168 · May 12, 2016

since when HOME has locus standi ????

which fucking law firm acts for HOME?????????????

scroobal · May 12, 2016

The Brothel as usual hid all the facts to give the real picture.

1. Doctor issued 2 days MC despite fracture requiring surgery in order for the company to avoid following the mandatory reporting rules for workers injury which at that time was 3 days.
2. He subsequently gave 1 month light duty
3. He obviously was helping the employer to avoid paying workmen injury compensation.

This doctor should have been sacked and not suspended. The Brothel in Toa Payoh and their bunch of whores are useless. These are the foreign workers that we need so that we all can have decent life and our kids can aspire to better things.

scroobal · May 12, 2016

This is website for Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME)
http://www.home.org.sg/about-us/whos-who/

Their President is Natalia Goh, the CEO is Bridget Tan and everyone should know Jolovan Wham who is also with them. Please donate to this good cause if you can.

Brightkid · May 12, 2016

Mindeaf would have love this doctor deep deep, and would have appointed him a lifelong contract. All Mindeaf personnel can only go to him to report sick. Confirm no chance for malingering cases.

scroobal · May 12, 2016

I thought the same. He probably got an award from NS days for doing the same thing.

Brightkid said:
Mindeaf would have love this doctor deep deep, and would have appointed him a lifelong contract. All Mindeaf personnel can only go to him to report sick. Confirm no chance for malingering cases.

shiokalingam · May 12, 2016

scroobal said:
Thanks Bro, this is brilliant, I missed this. Kudos to the NGO for pursuing. No wonder the SMC had to appeal. Disgraceful that the tribunal acquitted him.

-

Doctor Suspended over inadequate MCs for Foreign Worker

By
Neo Chai Chin
[email protected]
Published: 9:37 PM, May 11, 2016
Updated: 12:19 AM, May 12, 2016

SINGAPORE — Migrant-worker advocacy groups on Wednesday (May 11) welcomed a landmark six-month suspension of a doctor for granting insufficient hospitalisation leave to an injured construction worker and inappropriately certifying him to be fit for light work. But such cases continue to occur, they said.

The Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home), which had lodged the complaint in 2011 with the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) on the worker’s case, still sees 15 to 30 cases of insufficient medical leave a year, said executive director Jolovan Wham on Wednesday ( 11 May ) .

About one in three work injury cases seen by HealthServe involves doctors not issuing appropriate medical certificates (MC), said its communications manager Nhaca Le Schulze.

Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) does not track numbers of such cases due to resource constraints, but still sees “quite a large number of people who are given (a) very short number of MC days”, said executive committee member Debbie Fordyce. TWC2 sees over 100 new injury cases each month.

All three non-governmental organisations said they were heartened and encouraged by the court decision to convict orthopaedic surgeon Wong Him Choon of professional misconduct.

A disciplinary tribunal had acquitted Dr Wong on the basis that medical watchdog Singapore Medical Council (SMC) had not proven beyond reasonable doubt that Dr Wong’s departure from the “applicable standard of conduct was intentional and deliberate”.

The SMC then filed an appeal to the Court of Three Judges, which hears appeals against disciplinary tribunal decisions. The Court dismissed the acquittal and suspended Dr Wong from practice for six months. This was longer than the four months that SMC had pushed for.

According to a press release issued by the SMC on Tuesday, the judges said Dr Wong, from Raffles Orthopaedic Centre at Raffles Hospital, had considered irrelevant factors in issuing the medical certificate and had disregarded his patient’s well-being.

The SMC’s expert deemed that the foreign worker’s hand and forearm fractures, suffered in a construction site accident, warranted two weeks’ medical leave by a conservative standard.

But after operating on the unnamed patient in the wee hours of Sept 4, 2011, Dr Wong had issued two days’ MC and certified him fit for light duties for a month after that.

The worker experienced pain and went to Changi General Hospital a week later, and was given hospitalisation leave from Sept 11 to 30, 2011. It was only during a scheduled appointment on Oct 5 that year that Dr Wong issued a backdated MC from Sept 6 to Nov 20, 2011.

For years, NGOs have encountered injured workers given insufficient leave by doctors, mainly from private hospitals. When the workers sought treatment at public hospitals, they were given significantly more medical leave for the same injuries.

The complaints even prompted the Manpower and Health ministries to remind all doctors in 2013 to give injured workers medical leave “commensurate with the nature and severity of the workers’ injury”.

According to HOME, the practice stemmed from “unethical benefits” employers gained under a previous rule that required employers to report workplace accidents if medical leave given was for three or more consecutive days.

The “loophole” was changed after advocacy by NGOs, it said. Employers also gain from the unethical practice via maintenance of their safety records.

“This results in an unethical and symbiotic relationship between the employer and the doctor as employers are willing to pay a premium for treatment if it means net savings and benefits accrued at the expense of their workers’ well-being, and the doctors are assured a steady flow of patients from companies from the various industries that rely heavily on foreign labour,” said HOME.

Ms Fordyce said TWC2 now sees about three clinics that seem to be granting inadequate medical leave to injured foreign workers. “It’s a small number of doctors and clinics, and I don’t want it, in any way, to suggest that this is happening among a large group of doctors,” she said.

Granting workers adequate medical leave helps tide some over while they wait for work-injury compensation claims to be resolved, as the law mandates that workers must be paid while on medical leave.

Mr Wham said Home has filed about 10 complaints of this nature to the SMC in the last five years — about half of these cases are ongoing — and will be filing about three to four more. In Dr Wong’s case, Mr Wham said he attended one disciplinary tribunal hearing and provided the MCs given by Dr Wong and Changi General Hospital. The worker returned to China sometime in late 2011 or early 2012, he said.

On the significance of the landmark case, HealthServe’s Ms Le Schulze said: “We are extremely encouraged … and hope that this conviction will deter doctors from putting the desires of companies over the health and well-being of their patients.”

shiokalingam · May 12, 2016

scroobal said:
This is website for Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME)
http://www.home.org.sg/about-us/whos-who/

Their President is Natalia Goh, the CEO is Bridget Tan and everyone should know Jolovan Wham who is also with them. Please donate to this good cause if you can.

Singapore Medical Council

Press Releases

http://www.healthprofessionals.gov....ished_grounds_of_decision/press_releases.html

borom · May 12, 2016

Some light at the end of the tunnel.
Not surprisingly, no noise from the biggest trade union here NTUC or have I missed anything?
Many doctors (esp those on company's panel) are reluctant to give longer MC's and this case will serve to raise awareness of this problem.

The hospital in this case Raffles should also be censured/fined as the doctor is working for them and for assigning/allowing a spine consultant to treat a hand injury .

scroobal · May 12, 2016

NTUC's priorities are campaigning for PE candidate chosen by the PAP. They did this for Ong Teng Cheong and Tony Tan and the latter had no connection to NTUC in any capacity. It is also paymaster and provider for office space for numerous PAP MP candidates who are required to resign from the Civil Service but are not good enough to be employed by GLC or the private sector.

NTUC also focuses on running multiple businesses such as the chain of supermarkets, Insurance arm, taxi services etc. All these are important as they provide employment and in return receive some sort of loyalty and allegiance.

If given the opportunity they might enter the nightclub and entertainment sector which is currently in the doldrums.

As to workers, they are actually a captive market for the Insurance and Supermarket business.

borom said:
Some light at the end of the tunnel.
Not surprisingly, no noise from the biggest trade union here NTUC or have I missed anything?
Many doctors (esp those on company's panel) are reluctant to give MC's and this case will serve to raise awareness of this problem.

Force 136 · May 12, 2016

Does the CEO of Raffles Medical have anything to say?

Or is he part of the problem?

shiokalingam · May 12, 2016

scroobal said:
NTUC's priorities are campaigning for PE candidate chosen by the PAP. They did this for Ong Teng Cheong and Tony Tan and the latter had no connection to NTUC in any capacity. It is also paymaster and provider for office space for numerous PAP MP candidates who are required to resign from the Civil Service but are not good enough to be employed by GLC or the private sector.

NTUC also focuses on running multiple businesses such as the chain of supermarkets, Insurance arm, taxi services etc. All these are important as they provide employment and in return receive some sort of loyalty and allegiance.

If given the opportunity they might enter the nightclub and entertainment sector which is currently in the doldrums.

As to workers, they are actually a captive market for the Insurance and Supermarket business.

FOREIGN WORKERS GET SHORTER MCS BECAUSE ...

EMPLOYERS OF INJURED WORKERS ASK FOR SHORTER

SICK LEAVE TO AVOID REPORTING ACCIDENT TO MOM

@

May 12, 2016 6:00am , Thursday .

BY FOO JIE YING

An orthopaedic surgeon from Raffles Hospital was suspended for six months on Tuesday, following a Court of Appeal ruling that he was guilty of professional misconduct.

In 2011, Dr Wong Him Choon, 51, operated on a foreign workers' fractured hand, had him discharged on the same day without any medical leave.

Such cases are widespread in the construction industry, said migrant worker rights activist Jolovan Wham.

For Healthserve, another migrant worker rights body, 31 per cent of the cases they saw this year alone has to do with insufficient days of medical leave given.

For instance, a worker who fractured his back and spine after a 2.2m fall was given just one day of medical leave. Get the full story in our print edition (May 12).

Subscribe to The New Paper in print and digital here. - See more at: http://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore-news/foreign-workers-get-shorter-mcs-because#sthash.RmAIJRoq.dpuf

shiokalingam · May 12, 2016

borom said:
Some light at the end of the tunnel.
Not surprisingly, no noise from the biggest trade union here NTUC or have I missed anything?

Many doctors (esp those on company's panel) are reluctant to

give longer MC's and this case will serve to raise awareness of this problem.

The hospital in this case Raffles should also be censured/fined

as the doctor is working for them and

for assigning/allowing a spine consultant to treat a hand injury .

Thank you Sir for highlighting this vital point .

scroobal · May 12, 2016

It belongs Dr Loo Choon Yong, one of Singapore's richest man. Dabbles heavily with the political elite. Last week appeared before Constitutional Commission on PE. Names such as Singapore, Raffles, National etc are controlled by ACRA since the 1970s. You either must have a very good reason to get approval to use the name for your company or you must know somebody in politics to get it thru.

Raffles has nothing to do with Medicine. And the private medical practice has nothing special to do with the country. The only connection is that he came from RI which also is not good enough. You figure it out. They were previously known as Dr Teng and partners.

Anyway its private hospital and the consultants there like Mt E pay rental and occupy space and have access to common facilities. The mgmt has no say if he wants to do something outside his speciality. That will be up to SMC.

Force 136 said:
Does the CEO of Raffles Medical have anything to say?

Or is he part of the problem?

shiokalingam · May 12, 2016

scroobal said:
It belongs Dr Loo Choon Yong, one of Singapore's richest man. Dabbles heavily with the political elite. Last week appeared before Constitutional Commission on PE. Names such as Singapore, Raffles, National etc are controlled by ACRA since the 1970s. You either must have a very good reason to get approval to use the name for your company or you must know somebody in politics to get it thru.

Raffles has nothing to do with Medicine. And the private medical practice has nothing special to do with the country. The only connection is that he came from RI which also is not good enough. You figure it out. They were previously known as Dr Teng and partners.

Anyway its private hospital and the consultants there like Mt E pay rental and occupy space and have access to common facilities. The mgmt has no say if he wants to do something outside his speciality. That will be up to SMC.

TNP 12 May 2016 pg 6 to pg 7
@

shiokalingam · May 12, 2016

Force 136 said:
Does the CEO of Raffles Medical have anything to say?

Or is he part of the problem?

MOM also very quiet. Time to redo the 3 days MC reporting rule.

Best is 1/2 day MC and or any Doctor Appt even for minor ailments must also report !!!

shiokalingam · May 12, 2016

scroobal said:
It belongs Dr Loo Choon Yong, one of Singapore's richest man. Dabbles heavily with the political elite. Last week appeared before Constitutional Commission on PE. Names such as Singapore, Raffles, National etc are controlled by ACRA since the 1970s. You either must have a very good reason to get approval to use the name for your company or you must know somebody in politics to get it thru.

Raffles has nothing to do with Medicine. And the private medical practice has nothing special to do with the country. The only connection is that he came from RI which also is not good enough. You figure it out. They were previously known as Dr Teng and partners.

Anyway its private hospital and the consultants there like Mt E pay rental and occupy space and have access to common facilities. The mgmt has no say if he wants to do something outside his speciality. That will be up to SMC.

Sir , where is Dr Teng XXX XXX now ?

How is Dr Loo C Y ( MBBS Spore , LLB London ) related to the Elites ?

Chitchat Unusual Case of Doctor Suspension

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