Singapore— A doctor on trial on a charge of outraging a patient’s modesty has said in court that he was so busy on the day he allegedly touched the woman inappropriately that he can’t even remember her, and that the woman’s wanted ‘compensation’ for the alleged offense.
Dr Lui Weng Sun was on trial this week for allegedly touching the nipple of a 24-year-old Vietnamese patient during the course of a medical examination for flu-like symptoms.
The molestation reportedly occurred in November 2017 at a Northeast Medical Group clinic in Jalan Tiga near Old Airport Road.
Dr Lui, age 46 and a graduate of the medical school of the National University of Singapore, has said that these accusations are “outrageous” and “ridiculous”. He is married and a father of three children.
The doctor said that the patient had gone to him for a medical consultation on a Monday, the busiest day of the week for doctors, since prices are higher on weekends and there are shorter consolation and examination hours.
Dr Lui said, “Most people will come on Mondays for medical treatment, medical certificates etc.”
Due to a gag order, the woman and her boyfriend cannot be named in reports.
On the afternoon of Monday, November 6, 2017, the woman visited him at the clinic for a check up. Previous to the woman, Dr Lui had already seen 47 patients, and he told District Judge Jasvender Kaur that he could not even remember her, though she is seen on videos taken from that day.
“I do not recall seeing her in the medical room. There was nothing extraordinary about her, so I do not recall anything about the consultation.
There were 70 patients that day, effectively 47 before her. Same symptoms, same complaints, there was nothing distinctive about the patient. I can’t remember the patient at all.”
But, based on his notes, the woman had told him she was suffering from a sore throat, coughing and a runny nose, and that she had a slight fever. He had given her 2 days of medical leave and prescribed medication for her.
However, the woman said that when the doctor examined her, he lifted her shirt, only to put it down again quickly when an assistant entered. When the assistant left, the doctor allegedly lifted her shirt again and placed his stethoscope directly on her left nipple.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reports Dr Lui as saying, “That definitely did not happen. There are no medical reasons to put a stethoscope on anyone’s nipple, and during medical training, we are told to avoid the nipple as much as possible, because it’s a very sensitive area.”
The woman’s lawyer, Shashi Nathan, said to Dr Lui that his client claimed he touched her nipple, and pressed his finger into it after removing the stethoscope.
The doctor replied, “I definitely, definitely would not do such a ridiculous thing.”
It was only later that evening when Dr Lui heard from a nurse at the clinic that the patient was unhappy with her medical examination.
He received a call from the patient’s boyfriend, who asked him why he touched her breast.
Dr Lui reportedly did not admit to touching the woman’s breast, but neither did he deny it. He said “sorry” and that he needed to “check the things inside”.
According to the doctor, “It was a very long conversation. He accused me of touching the patient but he never specified or gave details on what kind of contact it was. He did mention things like – I don’t know about you doctors, you have money and lawyers, and also afraid of threatening you. He said things like – to me, this is a small matter, but to you, it’s a very big matter.”
Furthermore, the doctor said that the boyfriend sounded like he wanted to be compensated. “He kept saying he wanted a ‘jiao dai’, a Chinese word for an accounting, but in colloquial Mandarin, it also sounds like a request for compensation.”
Due to the police report filed against him, Dr Lui was asked to leave his practice at the Northeast Medical Group clinic in Kallang and that he has suffered financially because of this.
He added, ”I don’t know why the patient accused me of such ridiculous acts. I would never do such a thing anywhere. The place is so open, I am so busy, I have no time to think of anything other than clearing patients and going home, so I do not know why she has made such ridiculous allegations.” -/TISG