‘We felt exploited by SGH,’ says woman after elderly father’s hands end up bruised

SINGAPORE: A woman who was dissatisfied with the medical treatment her father received while he was warded at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) has taken to social media to share her family’s experience.

Ms Teri Tan, whose father passed away last month, wrote on her Facebook page earlier this week that they “felt exploited by” the hospital, because those who had tended to her father were, she claimed, “all junior residents who were incompetent and had used him as a guinea pig for their training/experiments.”

Moreover, she added that the senior doctor, to whom they had reached out, “turned a blind eye and refused all contact with us despite numerous request(s).”

Ms Tan’s post has gotten a lot of attention online. Meanwhile, SGH has left a comment on her post, expressing condolences and writing, “Please allow us to look into your feedback.”

The hospital also wrote that it has not been able to verify Ms Tan’s father’s full name and NRIC number, and has asked her to email his details and her contact information to SGH.

Ms Tan, who posted several photos of her father’s hands, wrote that in late November, they had been “shocked to discover that my father’s left hand had numerous needle holes and looked bruised and swollen.”

She added that her helper, who had stayed in her father’s room, “said that she had witnessed how the SGH staff have tried to collect blood by repeatedly inserting and removing the needle into various parts of my father’s hand as if they were figuring out which was the correct spot.”

Ms Tan also wrote that her sister talked to the nurses, who told them that it had been the doctor on duty who had inserted the needles.

A few days later, the family noticed that the same bruising had occurred on her father’s right hand. And when told by the nurse that it was the resident doctor who was “responsible,” Ms Tan requested to talk to him right away.

They were asked to wait while the doctor was doing his rounds. However, after waiting for 40 minutes, the nurse told them that the doctor had already gone home since it was a Saturday.

“How could SGH condone such acts of irresponsibility and incompetence amongst its doctors and nurses, allowing their senior doctors (Directors – Senior Doctor) to turn a blind eye and ignore us completely while their junior doctors were practicing on patients, treating them as guinea pigs. Rich or poor, every patient should be treated with dignity and respect. This unfortunate experience has definitely shattered all confidence we ever had of SGH,” Ms Tan wrote.

The Independent Singapore has reached out to Ms Tan and to SGH for further comment. /TISG