Eventually, everyone will loose their love ones…. old age, illness and incidents, etc… however the events that took my sisters’ life forever… was not because of an accident, serious illness or old age. It was due to negligence,… because the doctor administering giving a prescription meant to kill a common flu,… instead ‘killing’ my sister. The pain and agony my sister suffered SHOULD NOT have happened…
It all started when June (my sister) was having a bout of the flu, the normal thing to do was off course to see a doctor. So she visited a private clinic which was situated just under her block. After consultation, the lady doctor "doctor jane" prescribed medication to treat her flu and fever. She went home and consumed the medication given to her. The next day June complained that her joints were aching. She revisited the clinic, consulted same lady doctor and this time round, was given a prescription of pain killer and antibiotics.
June’s fever worsen,… so she went back to the see doctor Jane again for the 3rd time in only 3 days,… this time around, she was given an injection and doctor Jane wrote June a referral letter to the hospital in the event her fever worsens. Around midnight, seeing that she was not getting any better, my brother in law drove her to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, A and E department.
After consultation, the A and E doctor wrote her a MC (medical certificate) to indicate that she was not fit for work and sent her home without considering maybe warding her for her for observation… the next day June’s condition worsen three-fold, she could not take any food or water… what ever she took she vomited,she called doctor Jane and told her that she was feeling very very terrible and pleaded whether she can make a house call , but instead making the house call personally , she just ask my sister question on the line how she feeling and wat symptoms and she just prescribe the medicine and told my mum to go down to clinic to collect the medicine. after june consume the medication she got worse !!! my mother ran downstair to find doctor jane when she got to the clinic she already left . feeling desprate she call my father . when my father arrived at her place, she was clinging to the toilet bowl vomiting everything out. My father told her that she had nothing to vomit out….. without hesitation my father rushed her to
June was admitted on
The Skin Specialist diagnosed that June was suffering from a drug allergy and recommended a medication which cost S$2,000 for 2 days to be injected into her. My father said that even if it cost S$20,000, he was willing to pay.
My mother asked one of the male doctor in attendance why the hospital did not admit June earlier that evening on 12th July 2005, he replied in Chinese “thing had past already don’t talk about it anymore” his reply was so irresponsible!. I was thinking what the hell… that is a human life they are dealing with!.
June’s skin became so delicate that even the slightest touch on her body would make her skin came off exposing the flesh. When the nurse helped her to pass motion, they grabbed her by the arm causing her to scream out because of the excruciating pain. My father rushed to the bed and scolded the nurse and pleaded with them to be careful with her. The next morning 14th July, her condition took a turn for the worst and she was transferred to N.I.C.U. department on the 3rd floor, a tube was inserted into her mouth, down the wind pipe straight to her lungs to help her to breathe. Dr. Benjamin Ho told us she had infection on the skin and in the lungs. June’s skin was slowly turning black in color and peeling off. I was in shock, upon seeing her skin condition deteriorate so rapidly before my eyes, I was wondering how could modern science allow this to happen, Do these ‘great’ medical doctors with hundreds of thousands of hours of experience even know what they are doing?...
June was given morphine for pain and domicum to help her sleep and adrenaline to boost blood pressure. Dun ask me how I know coz I was with her all the while in I.C.U.
I paid special attention on her heartbeat, blood pressure, fluid level, oxygen level and all the vital signs that was showing on the computer, I even learnt to read the monitoring chart from an
June’s skin was peeling off even more as the days went by.
June was transferred to the medical intensive care unit on the 6th floor,… I was constantly hounding the doctors about my sister’s condition, and more importantly,… what illness was she suffering from, they just told me she was very ill.
I was not happy with the answers given to me. Based on the symptoms she displayed and upon checking the internet,… she may have contacted the ‘Stevens Johnson Syndrome’ or Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis. I tried to sound Dr Pan, a young doctor in medical intensive care unit, he was surprised that I actually know what is it, he said that June had indeed contacted Stevens Johnson Syndrome.
I was very furious that the
With the ventilator tube inside her throat and causing tremendous discomfort, June would sometimes try to pull it out. Each time, the nurse would have to put it back into her. I told June to bear with the discomfort and not to attempt to pull out the tube again. i ask the nurse why they bind her both hands to the bed side .they told me to prevent her from pulling the tube out...
As days went by,… her skin gradually improved, we were overjoyed hoping, thinking and praying that the worst was over and that she was on the road to recovery.
On the morning of
Dr Benjamin Ho told us it may have been caused when June pulled out the tube and thereafter the nurses tried to put it back in causing injury to the windpipe in the throat. He added that June’s lung was not in very good shape. Her lung was almost white base on the X-ray they took 12 hourly. Jason (June’s husband) and I were devastated, we thought she going to be alright and was recovering. Without our knowledge she was sedated. Reason given was to stop her from pulling out the tube again or she attempts to fight the machine. As days went by her vital signs was failing. on 25th July her oxygen level was falling below 85, her BP was very low, heartbeat was obove 150 per min., to she took her last breathe at 9am 26 July she was bleeding blood from the mouth ,ears and eyes when she die. she was only 26.
June is one of the victims of some irresponsible doctors in modern Singapore today !
How could this happen when Singapore swore to be medical hub of the world?
or is it because lower income Singaporean life is dispensable?
june we love you forever...
posted by alex @ 5:57 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
It's disheartening to read that incidents like this can and do happen in modern Singapore.
Surely,.... said Doctor at neighborhood Clinic including the Doctors of TTSH were slip shod and questionable in their medical diagnosis and should be "accountable".
Heartfelt SYMPATHY to your family and you for loss.
Dear Alex.
I read with much sympathy the article on the Newpaper.
About 4 years ago, my sister had a series of recurring stomach pains. She went to the neighbourhood clinic. The doctor said that she was suffering from gastric flu, prescribed her some medicine and asked her to rest at home. The stomach pains didn't go away. A few more fruitless visits to the neighbourhood clinics later, I finally persuaded her to go get herself checked up at the Changi hospital.
She did. The doctors did some scans, sat both of us down and pointed out a small tumour in her liver. Nothing serious, he said. We'll go in, remove the thing and it'll be a walk in the park. So the operation date was set.
The operation was set for a week later. It was supposed to be a 3-hour procedure but turned out to be almost 7 hours later when they came out of the operating theatre. The surgeon came out and said. There's been a problem. The tumour was larger than we thought and it's cancerous. We've got to cut out the cancerous portion and therefore, the liver's almost gone. We've got to put her on life support for a few days, hope that the liver regenerates itself and pray for the best. I was devastated. Heartbroken.
They chucked her into the ICU for a few days, monitored her progress and subsequently moved her into a ward when she improved. That was the start of a downhill slide. What happened over the next 3 weeks was a series of nightmarish tests, more tests, more scopes, more tests, more probes. The surgeon and the doctors were unable to comment. We'll just have to wait and see, they said. Why all the probes and tests and scopes? Surely there must have been some diagnosis. Surely you can tell us, the loved ones, explain the situation and prepare us. Um. It's too complicated. Let's just wait and see.
Like you, Alex, I went on the internet. Found out all the information I needed to know. That she has a chronic condition that resulted in the liver cancer. That liver cancer is almost always fatal. That there was almost nothing anyone could do. I was frustrated, angry, devastated, and most of all, very, very sad.
I hated to see her being probed, tested, scoped everyday. It was causing her tremendous discomfort. She bore up well. My sister always does. She was a live wire. Always bubbly and happy and always positive and upbeat. Day by day in that hospital, I saw her waste away. I saw her spirit slowly being beaten, slowly eroding away. It took tremendous effort not to smack the doctors and the nurses everytime they do another probe, another test, another scope. And everytime, to tell us that the situation doesn't look good.
Her condition continued to worsen. Guess what? They decided to transfer us to the first class ward. They were concerned it would de-moralise the rest of the patients to see her deterioriate.
She passed away, eventually having spent almost 4 weeks in the bloody hospital. Probed, tested, scoped like a guinea pig. I almost think they were using her as a test case. Why was all that necessary when they already knew it was a lost cause.
You know, Alex, some people are really philosophical about things. Oh, things happen. It's fate. You've got to learn to let go. You'll lose your loved ones and you've got to learn to accept it.
It's been 4 years. I've not accepted it. The pain never goes away. It goes from the sharp, stabbing, stinging pain to a dull ache but it stays.
And I'm angry. I'm angry at neighbourhood doctor, who wasn't more thorough. Who was more concerned about seeing MORE patients, covering his rental and nurses' costs, and making money. I'm angry at the surgeons and doctors at the hospital. She was just another case. None of the doctors went out of their way to be sympathetic. To treat us all with more sensitivity and respect. We were going to lose a loved one! To them, she was just another statistic. No doctor seems to remember their Hippocratic oath. Or whatever fark ethic they had to live by. They were insensitive, always busy. We had to chase after them, plead with them to tell us what was happening. Ask them time and again to let us know why the tests and more tests.
I am sure there are nice, sensitive doctors out there. Who lived by their medical ethics and codes and want to make a difference in the lives of their patients.
Not those bloody doctors or nurses at Changi Hospital, though. Or the farked up GPs at my neighbourhood.
I am sorry about what happened to your sister. I know the kind of trauma and deep sadness you'll all feel through this loss. And I hope you and all in your family will eventually find the strength to move on.
I agreed,well said. Sometimes I wonder if the doctors really know what they are doing. Do they treat patients like guinea pigs? Of course there are good doctors around and there are also kind hearted ones. Then there are those who only care about making profit. (eg clinics selling sleeping pills etc)
2. I sympathise with you, Alex. I feel dishearten that this kind of incident can happen in Singapore. Sometimes I feel that those who are more affluent are treated better or get better services/treatment from the doctors. Alex, I hope that you can move on and be stronger. You must take care of your mum especially....Joeeee
a few years back, a GP almost caused me to lose my right leg. i had been experiencing pain in my right ankle area for quite a while and i decided to visit this supposed very 'good' GP in the bedok area. the first time i went, he diagnosed me as having a tendon infection and gave me a painkiller jab and told me i will be fine. but unfortunately the pain in my feet didnt go away and got worse, and i went back to see that doctor again. once again he told me that it was tendon infection and then i will be fine. he prescribed me with painkillers once again. after the second visit, the pain in my leg still didnt subside and i went to him for the third time. he told me the same thing again and said that if i like, he can take a blood sample and see what's wrong with my leg. by then my mom was worried sick, and i decided to go see a specialist at SGH myself.
as in turned out, i had a giant cell tumor in my right ankle, and when i told the specialist that the GP had said it was a tendon infection he said, the place where i was experiencing the pain wasnt even where my tendon was supposed to be.
the tumor in my right ankle bone was so big that it had left my bone 'egg shell' thin. if i had delayed in going to see the specialist, the tumor might have shattered my ankle bones into pieces.
it is really sad to see how irresponsible how some GPs in singapore are. its as though all they want to do is see as many patients in a day as possible to earn as much money as possible.
alex, my heartfelt sympathy to you and your family. stay strong and i hope that justice can be upheld for your family.
June was a pitiful case, I feel sad for her father too.Those that have done evil shall be burnt in hell.God knows June is kind.
I am so sorry for your loss. Reading your blog, I felt so sorry for your sister and your family. THings like this shouldn't happen in medical science but it does.
OMG... I just read about all your family has been through. As I don't live in Singapore, I didn't realise all that has transpired. I would like to help if possible. Email me updates. I realise I am 4 years too late. I'm sorry.
Post a Comment
<< Home