Singapore Doctor Urges Court to Stop $19 Million Bill Probe
November 11, 2011, 1:13 AM ESTBy Ann Koh and Andrea Tan
(Updates with judges reserving decision in seventh paragraph.)
Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Susan Lim, the Singapore doctor who billed a member of Brunei’s royal family S$24.8 million ($19 million) for seven months of treatment, urged an appeal court to block a medical council inquiry into the charges.
Singapore’s health ministry began a probe in 2007 to determine whether Lim’s bills showed a pattern of overcharging, improper billing and whether some fees were inappropriate. A panel appointed by the medical council to hold the inquiry stepped down after Lim complained the members had prejudged her case. A second panel is now pursuing the investigation.
Lim failed to block the second probe when the high court ruled on May 26 the disciplinary hearing could proceed.
The Singapore Medical Council failed to fully inform its members of the decision to appoint the second disciplinary committee and “downplayed the gravity” of such a decision, Lee Eng Beng, Lim’s lawyer, told a three-judge appeal panel at a hearing today in Singapore.
Lim’s request to block the inquiry is premature, Alvin Yeo, the medical council’s lawyer, told the panel.
“She may very well be cleared,” he said. “And if not, she has a right to appeal.”
The judges reserved their decision.
$200,000 a Day
Lim, 56, Asia’s first liver-transplant surgeon, sought as much as S$200,000 a day over seven months in 2007 to treat Pangiran Anak Hajah Damit, Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah’s sister-in-law, for cancer. Bolkiah, Brunei’s ruler, is the second-richest royal in the world,, according to Forbes.
Brunei’s health ministry sought a discount on the S$24.8 million bill through its counterpart in Singapore, claiming in a letter that the “extremely high” charges weren’t justified.
The Singapore Health Ministry said in a letter of complaint that “overcharging on such a magnitude could also bring disrepute to the medical profession” in the city.
The medical bill included third-party disbursements and Lim said she had agreed to reduce it to S$12.1 million, including S$3.3 million for a team of doctors and nurses, according to court papers.
Lee told the panel today it’s a “civil fee dispute” and shouldn’t be turned into a disciplinary proceeding.
Brunei hasn’t begun any legal action over the dispute, Lee told reporters after today’s hearing.
“Why should they sue?” he asked. “They haven’t paid.”
Singapore earned S$940 million from medical tourism last year, according to the tourism board, which has a goal of 1 million medical tourists by 2012. A group of doctors and investors is building an S$800 million integrated private hospital, medical center and hotel to attract more foreign patients.
The city state is competing for medical tourism dollars with Thailand, India and Malaysia, who have their own initiatives to boost treatment of foreigners.
The case is Dr. Susan Lim Mey Lee v The Singapore Medical Council OS1252/2010 in the Singapore High Court.
--Editors: Joe Schneider, Garry Smith
To contact the reporters on this story: Ann Koh in Singapore at akoh15@bloomberg.net; Andrea Tan in Singapore at atan17@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Douglas Wong at dwong19@bloomberg.net
