Serious Doctor Jailed 9 Months For Lying About Mud's Cause Of Death! Guess The Race?

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

SINGAPORE: A general practitioner who falsely certified the cause of death of a 32-year-old woman was jailed nine months on Wednesday (Jul 13).

Kwan Kah Yee, 65, was convicted of three charges for falsely certifying Siti Mariam Salleh’s cause of death, fabricating evidence and giving false information to authorities to cover up his misdeed.

Kwan’s issuance of a false death certificate is “a very grave breach of a doctor’s ethical and professional duties”, the Court of Three Judges had said during disciplinary proceedings against Kwan brought by the Singapore Medical Council (SMC).

The judges had also taken the unusual step of referring Kwan’s case to the Attorney-General.

When Madam Siti Mariam passed away in 2011, Kwan went to her Teck Whye Lane home at the request of the Singapore Casket Company. He issued a death certificate stating Madam Siti Mariam had died from ischaemic heart disease.

Kwan claimed he had based his conclusion on medical information obtained from various polyclinics and general practitioners, as well as electrocardiograms and abnormal blood test results shown to him by Madam Siti Mariam’s husband.

Kwan also claimed the widower had said his wife had suffered chest pains.

However, the court found that none of these medical records existed and Madam Siti Mariam’s husband never provided Kwan with such information.

When confronted with an SMC probe into the false death certificate, Kwan called Madam Siti Mariam’s widower Sariffudin Mazlan to ask for his help.

At Kwan’s behest, Mr Sariffudin signed a letter stating his late wife had suffered from ischaemic heart disease since 2007, and that he wanted investigations against Kwan stopped.

Although he did not agree with the contents of Kwan’s letter, Mr Sariffudin signed it anyway as he trusted Kwan, the court heard. The doctor then put this letter, containing “fabricated evidence”, before the SMC disciplinary tribunal, which suspended Kwan for three months for professional negligence. On appeal, his punishment was upped to a three-year suspension.

The doctor had also given false information to police investigators in the form of his case notes, which were allegedly recorded by him on the day of Madam Siti Mariam’s death in 2011.

His notes “reproduced the (false) claims” surrounding the woman’s death and aimed to “thwart law enforcement action against him”, Deputy Public Prosecutor Hon Yi said, urging the court to impose a 12-month jail term on Kwan.

DPP Hon said Kwan’s actions had caused public disquiet and an erosion of trust in the medical profession. False certifications of death are also extremely hard to detect and hard to challenge, the prosecutor said.

“Any challenge would necessitate a post-mortem to be conducted … which may be upsetting to the next-of-kin. This is also assuming that any challenge is done in the short window between death and cremation, after which any examination of the body is impossible.”

A Coroner’s Inquiry into the cause of Madam Siti Mariam’s death was inconclusive.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...html?cid=fbcna


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