ID :
184775
Fri, 05/27/2011 - 05:38
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/184775
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SINGAPORE COURT REJECTS SURGEON'S APPLICATION AGAINST MEDICAL COUNCIL
By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah
SINGAPORE, May 27 (Bernama) -- The High Court has dismissed a surgeon's application to stop the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) from setting up a second disciplinary committee to investigate if she had overcharged a Bruneian royal patient.
Dr Susan Lim, Asia's first liver transplant surgeon, faced a disciplinary hearing last year for billing the patient US$20 million for treatment.
The local television channel, Channel NewsAsia, reported the three-member panel stepped down in July last year after Dr Lim complained they had prejudged the case.
In his 30-page judgment Thursday, Justice Philip Pillai noted that Dr Lim had also tried to prevent the SMC from any further referral of the same complaint to any disciplinary committee in future.
He said that to do this, the surgeon would have had to prove that the SMC's decision to refer the complaint to the second disciplinary committee was illegal or biased, as she had claimed.
She had failed to do this, said Pillai, adding that what was striking was that Dr Lim did not allege bias by any person or official.
There was not even an allegation made against the health ministry's director of medical services, Professor K. Satku, that he had abused his position as director to cause the ministry to investigate Dr Lim and to file the complaint against her, said Pillai.
He said Dr Lim had "feebly" invited the court to infer actual bias based on circumstances and offered no direct evidence to support her claims.
"It would be startling for a court of law to draw inferences of actual bias other than from direct evidence."
Pillai dismissed her application.
The case has drawn controversy in Singapore, not least because of the eye-popping price tag of US$20 million.
-- BERNAMA
SINGAPORE, May 27 (Bernama) -- The High Court has dismissed a surgeon's application to stop the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) from setting up a second disciplinary committee to investigate if she had overcharged a Bruneian royal patient.
Dr Susan Lim, Asia's first liver transplant surgeon, faced a disciplinary hearing last year for billing the patient US$20 million for treatment.
The local television channel, Channel NewsAsia, reported the three-member panel stepped down in July last year after Dr Lim complained they had prejudged the case.
In his 30-page judgment Thursday, Justice Philip Pillai noted that Dr Lim had also tried to prevent the SMC from any further referral of the same complaint to any disciplinary committee in future.
He said that to do this, the surgeon would have had to prove that the SMC's decision to refer the complaint to the second disciplinary committee was illegal or biased, as she had claimed.
She had failed to do this, said Pillai, adding that what was striking was that Dr Lim did not allege bias by any person or official.
There was not even an allegation made against the health ministry's director of medical services, Professor K. Satku, that he had abused his position as director to cause the ministry to investigate Dr Lim and to file the complaint against her, said Pillai.
He said Dr Lim had "feebly" invited the court to infer actual bias based on circumstances and offered no direct evidence to support her claims.
"It would be startling for a court of law to draw inferences of actual bias other than from direct evidence."
Pillai dismissed her application.
The case has drawn controversy in Singapore, not least because of the eye-popping price tag of US$20 million.
-- BERNAMA
