Doctor suspended for failing to detect patient’s acute glaucoma
A woman has her eyes tested. Reuters file photo
SINGAPORE — A 59-year-old general practitioner has been suspended from practice for three months by the Singapore Medical Council (SMC), for failing to properly diagnose and treat a patient, which led to her losing part of her vision.
Dr Fong Wai Yin, who was practising at Nanyang Centre Clinic at Block 959, Jurong West Street 92 at the time, was found by a disciplinary tribunal to have given an “unacceptable standard of care” that amounted to “serious negligence”, a report released yesterday by the SMC showed.
The patient, who had symptoms of red eyes and high pressure in her eyes, went to see Dr Fong in 2013. Over five days from March 13 to 18, she consulted him three times with accompanying symptoms of blurred vision, a severe and persistent headache, and vomiting.
During these visits, Dr Fong did not physically examine her eyes. He also did not document her eye condition in full detail in his case notes, such as failing to note if her corneas were clear, hazy or opaque, and not detecting that she had distorted mid-dilated pupils.
Wrongly assessing that the patient had acute conjunctivitis, Dr Fong continued to assure her that there was no cause for alarm. Even when her symptoms did not improve, his advice remained the same, and he did not refer her to an eye specialist.
The patient then saw another family physician for a second opinion and was immediately referred to the accident and emergency department at a hospital. She was found to have bilateral acute angle-closure glaucoma (AACG), a serious eye disease that requires immediate and urgent treatment.
Due to the delay, the patient was unable to recover her full vision and now suffers from tunnel vision.
She also needs a caregiver’s help, because she cannot see “more than a few feet in front of her”, the council’s report said.
If left untreated, she could have suffered a permanent loss of vision.
The patient’s son lodged a complaint against Dr Fong, and a disciplinary tribunal held an inquiry on July 25 this year.
While bilateral AACG is a “rare condition” and can be mistaken for conjunctivitis, the tribunal said that the patient’s lack of improvement at each subsequent consultation should have “raised some concerns”, especially when complaints of eye pain and persistent headaches were not typically associated with conjunctivitis but suggested a more serious condition.
The doctor should have at least carried out a “quick examination” on the patient’s ability to count fingers but “perplexingly, this was not done”.
Dr Fong pleaded guilty to all three charges of professional misconduct under the Medical Registration Act. The tribunal gave full weight to the doctor’s mitigation plea for having an a “unblemished record” in his 34 years of general practice in medicine.
He was also extremely “remorseful” and deeply regretted his offences, and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
Dr Fong’s suspension, which will last until Dec 14, should “send a signal to medical professionals on the importance of maintaining the highest professional standards which are expected of them”, the SMC said.
