Dr Susan Lim loses appeal against SMC’s guilty verdict – 01Jul2013

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The highest court in Singapore on Monday dismissed an appeal by general surgeon Susan Lim against her conviction on charges of professional misconduct over the amount she charged a patient from the royal family of Brunei.

In a 109-page written judgment, the three-judge Court of Appeal said Dr Lim’s case was “clearly one of the most serious cases – if not the most serious case so far – of overcharging in the medical profession in the local context”. The court dismissed her claims that she was justified and there was no ethical obligation to charge a fair and reasonable amount and pointed out her approach showed she had shown no remorse.

In the judgment, the court ruled there is an objective ethical limit on medical fees that operates outside contractual and market forces, The court found that, given a doctor’s specialised knowledge and training, there arises an ethical obligation on the part of a doctor not to take advantage of his patient. And this ethical obligation to charge a fair and reasonable fee is not superseded by a valid agreement between the doctor and his patient, the court held.

In 2012, Dr Lim was found guilty of 94 charges of professional misconduct by a Singapore Medical Council (SMC) disciplinary committee for charging about million for the services provided to Pengiran Anak Hajah Damit Pg Pemancha Pg Anak Mohd Alam for 110 treatment days from January to June 2007. Dr Lim was then given a three-year suspension and fined ,000 – which was upheld by the appeal court

www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/dr-susan-lim-loses-appeal-against-smcs-guilty-verdict-20130701

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SINGAPORE: The surgeon involved in one of Singapore’s most serious cases of overcharging in the medical profession will be suspended from practice for three years and fined S,000.

This follows the dismissal of Dr Susan Lim’s appeal by the country’s highest court.

Dr Lim had appealed against the Singapore Medical Council’s (SMC) rulings that she committed professional misconduct by overcharging a Bruneian patient, who was part of the royal family.

Last year, she was found guilty of 94 charges of professional misconduct by the SMC’s disciplinary committee for charging about S million.

This amount was for the services provided to Pengiran Anak Hajah Damit Pg Pemancha Pg Anak Mohd Alam.

She was handed a three-year suspension and fined S,000.

In a 109-page written judgement by the Court of Appeal, the three judges said the ethical obligation of a doctor to not take advantage of his patient, monetarily or otherwise, “operates over and above contractual and market forces”.

This essentially means a doctor is first and foremost ethically obliged to charge a fair and reasonable fee.

The appeals court has ruled that a valid agreement between the doctor and patient will not supersede this ethical obligation.

The judges added that there was “clearly sufficient evidence” for all the 94 charges against Dr Lim of professional misconduct in the form of overcharging.

They upheld SMC’s disciplinary committee’s decision in [...]

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