Doctor accused of causing patient's death by cutting wrong arteries restricted from surgery for 18 months

Singapore's top medical body, the Singapore Medical Council (SMC), has imposed restrictions on Dr Fong Yan Kit for 18 months, prohibiting him from performing most types of surgery. This decision was made after the doctor was charged with causing the death of a patient during kidney surgery in April 2022 at Raffles Hospital. According to the SMC, Dr Fong likely had a fundamental misunderstanding or misapprehension of human anatomy, and this may not have been a one-off error.

In April 2022, Dr Fong severed the wrong arteries during a keyhole surgery, leading to the patient's organs suffering infarction and her subsequent death a few days later. The coroner's inquiry concluded that Madam Tan Bee Hwa, the patient, died as a result of the medical procedure and that her death could have been avoided. The SMC argues that Dr Fong's actions raised serious doubts about his skill and competence as a urologist, and he seems to lack insight into his conduct.

The medical council's lawyers stated that Dr Fong deviated from the correct sequence of ligations and transections during the surgery, and their order was unfathomable. Dr Fong has voluntarily stopped performing major abdominal surgery since June 2022 and has not engaged in any major abdominal surgery since his charge in March. He is the sole breadwinner for his family, and his income has significantly dropped since 2022.

Dr Fong claims that he has performed or assisted in at least 200 laparoscopic surgeries over his 20-year career at Raffles Hospital, with no cases of accidental cutting of the wrong artery or post-operative death.