A Singaporean man, Chia Soo Kiang, filed a lawsuit against Tan Tock Seng Hospital and three doctors last August following the death of his mother, suing them for $800,000 in damages.
However, his case was dismissed by Justice Choo Han Teck in October last year, with the hospital and the three doctors found not guilty.
On Friday (10 March), Chia was ordered by the court to pay $756,000 along with other costs and expenses, with the judge said that this was partly because he had refused to settle for a “reasonable offer” that was previously offered to him by the defendants.
Ordered to pay $756k
Chia sued TTSH in August 2022 for $800,000 claiming that they were negligent in diagnosing his deceased mother, Tan Yaw Lan, ultimately causing her death back in 2018.
The case was dismissed by Justice Choo in October 2022, and both sides then entered a hearing over the costs and disbursements.
The defendants argued that they had offered Chia $15,000 to settle the case but were rejected, and as a result, Chia was ordered by the court to pay $756,000 to settle the costs of the trial after the lawsuit was dismissed.
The Judge notes that the amount was undoubtedly very high, but pointed out that had both parties gone for mediation, “a better idea of the merits of the case and the burden of costs may have been impressed upon them by the mediator, and we might have had a different outcome to this suit.”
On his decision, Justice Choo said “Costs are not meant to punish a failed civil action, but when a reasonable offer to settle was refused and the party refusing ended worse off than the terms offered, the other party should not have to bear the resulting costs that might have been saved.”
Background
A 74-year-old elderly woman, Madam Tan Yaw Lan, died 3 weeks after suffering a heart attack while she was hospitalised at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, (TTSH) on 13 May 2018.
The deceased’s son, 47-year-old Chia Soo Kiang, is suing the hospital and three doctors for negligence and seeking $800,000, alleging that they had multiple breaches during their duty of care.
The three doctors involved in this care are namely Dr Dorai Raj D. Appadorai, Dr Lee Wei Sheng and Dr Ranjana Acharaya.
Madam Tan, who had health problems which included diabetes, heart and kidney disease, and hypertension, suffered a heart attack while taking a shower, where she was assisted by a nursing intern.
The deceased was admitted into TTSH on 20 April 2018, following a visit to the emergency department with complaints of a fever ad lethargy.
She was initially diagnosed as having widespread sepsis, a heart attack, diabetes, anaemia and a deteriorating kidney.
The treatment plan for her was to start antibiotics medication and stop her medications for heart problems such as furosemide and losartan, as well as aspirin.
She was then referred to the cardiovascular medicine department of the hospital by Dr Lee, and her usual premixed insulin was then replaced with a “sliding scale” insulin, with the dose varying based on the blood glucose level.
The referral was then cancelled by Dr Ranjana.
The defendants said that Madam Tan’s aspirin medication had to be temporarily stopped because there is a risk of bleeding, with the doctors highlighting her drop in haemoglobin level and sepsis.
They also said that hospitalised patients being placed on sliding-scale insulin was common and usual.
They added that Madam Tan’s underlying cause for her heart attack was sepsis (the body’s life-threatening response to an infection) and that no specific treatment was required for her heart attack.
They also testified that the nursing intern, who was helping Madam Tan shower, had immediately called for help and a medical team attended to her and that there was no delay in the resuscitative efforts.
The defendants also argued that Dr Dorai Raj, who was on call on the night on 20 April, didn’t owe Madam tan a duty of care as he didn’t personally review her and was not consulted on her case.
