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Prominent oncologist Ang Peng Tiam suspended for professional
misconduct
SINGAPORE: Prominent oncologist Dr Ang Peng Tiam has been suspended for eight months on Tuesday (Jun 27) over charges of professional misconduct.
In April 2010, a 55-year-old woman with
lung cancer consulted Dr Ang, the medical director of Parkway Cancer Centre,
who told her there was “at least a 70 per cent chance that her disease would
respond to treatment and achieve control” with chemotherapy and targeted
therapy.
Dr Ang, 59, did not offer her the option
of surgery – despite the fact that surgery was the preferred initial treatment
for patients suffering from the same stage of cancer, according to the
Singapore Medical Council (SMC).
The patient underwent the prescribed
treatment, but her cancer spread and she died six months later. Her family then
lodged a complaint with the SMC against Dr Ang.
Four charges of professional misconduct
were brought against him in April 2015. In July 2016, he was convicted of two
of the charges by a disciplinary tribunal appointed by the SMC, and fined
S$25,000.
Dr Ang appealed to the Court of Three
Judges against his conviction. The SMC also appealed for the fine to be
substituted with a six-month suspension for each of the two charges.
On Tuesday, the court upheld Dr Ang’s
convictions, but allowed the SMC’s appeal and substituted the fine with an
eight-month suspension for both charges.
PATIENTS SHOULD BE INFORMED OF VIABLE
TREATMENT OPTIONS: COURT
In its judgment, the court said that while
doctors should evaluate the pros and cons of various treatments and may depart
from guidelines when there are good reasons, patients should still be informed
of the viable treatment options available to them.
“A doctor might believe that a particular
treatment option is in his patient’s best interests, but ultimately, it is the
patient who must make the decision on her treatment,” the court said.
Dr Ang had also admitted before the SMC
disciplinary tribunal that surgery was the only prospect of cure for the
patient’s cancer, and that she might have up to a 20 per cent chance of cure
had she undergone initial surgery.
The court also upheld the disciplinary
tribunal’s finding that Dr Ang had offered the patient and her family false
hope. Dr Ang had presented an optimistic picture that she was likely to have
her disease under control with his prescribed therapy, when he did not in fact
have any reasonable basis for such optimism, the SMC said.
On sentencing, the court considered the
fact that the SMC had taken four-and-a-half years to serve the notice of
inquiry on Dr Ang after it received the complaint against him. It held that the
delay had caused Dr Ang anxiety and distress with the proceedings hanging over
his head.
The court decided that an appropriate
sentence would have been a 16-month suspension, but taking into account the
“inordinate delay”, decided to halve the suspension to eight months.
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