Suspected medical blunder involves paediatrician

The closing submission of a disciplinary hearing for a paediatrician who is alleged of a medical blunder that left a male infant permanently disabled is delivered at the Medical Council. The council will hand down the ruling on July 5.

The disciplinary hearing resumes at the medical council. Paediatrician Sit Sou-chi arrives for the hearing. Complainants and the infant's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lai, are also present.

The suspected medical blunder happened in 2009, when Mrs Lai gave birth at the Baptist Hospital and suffered from a high fever. Lai's son also developed a high fever and seizure after he was born

and was sent to the hospital for treatment. In the end, the infant became permanently disabled with cerebral palsy and quadriplegia.

The parents filed a complaint to the medical council in 2010, claiming Sit had failed to act on warnings about the infant's condition.

In his closing submission, the medical council's counsel mentions the statement of a Baptist Hospital's nurse, who recalled the incident. The nurse says they phoned Sit in the early hours to inform him the baby had a seizure and chocked on milk.

The nurse asked the doctor to return to the hospital promptly to check on the infant. But Sit ignored the situation as he continued to sleep at home even though his home was only 15 minutes away from the hospital.

The counsel says such behaviour is misconduct because Sit ignored his profession's duty.

The barrister also points out contradictions between Sit's and the nurse's statements. He says the council should accept the nurse's statement because it matches the record of the medical system, whereas the counsel describes Sit as an "opportunist."

Meanwhile, Sit's defence says the case should focus on whether or not the doctor conducted timely and necessary inspections rather than if he misdiagnosed. The defence says Sit followed up on the baby's condition based on the nurse's reports, including suspending the infant's milk feeding once.

While the hearing was first scheduled to take place in July 2016,but it was delayed several times. It was only until November last year when the council announced the hearing's reopening.