Earlier this week, a woman penned a Facebook post accusing staff at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) of incompetence.
In particular, she questioned their methods of drawing blood, which left bruises on her late father’s hands shortly before his demise.
Source: Facebook
SGH has since issued a statement explaining why stuff may need to make multiple attempts to draw blood from elderly patients.
Due to biological conditions, bruising is apparently normal.
On Monday (8 Jan), Facebook user Ms Tan penned a lengthy post accusing SGH doctors of exploiting her father during his stay at the hospital.
Source: Facebook
She said that he was left in the hands of relatively junior doctors who treated him like “a guinea pig for their training and experiments”.
Ms Tan further claimed that the senior doctor had refused to contact the family despite them making multiple attempts.
Recounting the incident, Ms Tan said her father’s left hand was bruised, swollen, and dotted with needle holes during their visit on 23 Nov 2023.
Her helper, who stayed in the room with her father, said she saw SGH staff “repeatedly inserting and removing the needle” from the elderly man’s hand, as if “figuring out which was the correct spot”.
About a week later on 2 Dec 2023, Ms Tan found out that her father’s other hand was bruised and swollen as well.
Source: Facebook
She requested to speak to the resident doctor who she claimed was responsible for the bruises.
According to Ms Tan, a staff nurse spoke to the doctor who said he would be available to meet after he made his rounds.
The doctor, however, failed to show up 40 minutes later.
The staff nurse contacted the doctor again and later told Ms Tan that the latter had already left work.
Appalled by the turn of events, Ms Tan accused the doctor of fleeing responsibility:
It is apparent that the resident doctor could not account for what he did and left the hospital when he knew I had expected an explanation.
Teri’s father passed away about a week later on 10 Dec.
Ending her post, Ms Tan said the incident left a bad taste in her mouth. She pointed out that every patient ought to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of whether they’re rich or poor.
On Wednesday (10 Dec) night, SGH issued a Facebook statement in response to Ms Tan’s allegations.
Source: Singapore General Hospital on Facebook
In the statement, SGH said elderly patients and those on certain medications may often have fragile skin and thin veins.
This poses a challenge as staff may require several attempts to draw blood from such patients, even if they are competent with the procedure.
As for what transpired on 2 Dec, SGH said the doctor in question was already off duty and away from the hospital when Ms Tan requested to see him.
The hospital further claimed that the doctor tried calling Ms Tan afterwards but was unable to reach her.
In light of this, the doctor contacted the patient’s wife to explain the situation. SGH said the wife was understanding and accepted the hospital’s explanation and apology.
The hospital did, however, apologise for not properly conveying the family’s request to speak to a senior doctor.
Nonetheless, it assured Ms Tan’s family that the patient was looked after by an experienced team who updated the wife constantly.
SGH took the opportunity to express their condolences to the bereaved family. The hospital also said it has reached out to Ms Tan and the patient’s wife privately.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook and by MS News.
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