08 Aug 2011
By: SALMA KHALIK
MORE patients are lodging financial claims against doctors.
The number of cases has nearly doubled over the past five years, with the vast majority settled out of court.
Hospitals put the increase down to poor communication and patients’ rising expectations. It may also be partly because there are now more doctors here.
It does not reflect “a deterioration in care”, said the Medical Protection Society, which insures almost all of the more than 9,000 doctors and medical students here against professional mishaps.
Dr Tim Hegan, its director of international operations, said claims against doctors have “increased year on year”, with 90 per cent more last year than in 2006. While he did not want to reveal the number for last year, The Straits Times understands it was more than 250.
However, he added that annual totals are often not final and might actually be higher. Said Dr Hegan, who is based in London: “This is because the harm is not always obvious or apparent at the time of incident – it may be several months or years later when a patient realises something is wrong.
“Similarly, it could be some time after the incident that the patient decides to seek compensation or redress for clinical negligence – they don’t always pursue a clinical negligence case straight away.”
He said 99 per cent of cases are settled without going to court. Financial compensation is given in more than half the cases. The rest are settled with no money changing hands.
“We expect that very few claims will continue to reach the trial stage of the court process, because the claims management system is so effective.”
While the increase is a cause for concern, Dr Hegan said he does not think it means the quality of care is getting worse. He said many of the claims result from communication problems.
The Medical Protection Society is a non-profit group set up by doctors to protect themselves against possible claims. In spite of the big increase in complaints, the insurance premiums that doctors pay the society have remained stable for several years.
Doctors here pay between $1,490 and $28,250 in premiums a year. At the low end are general practitioners, and at the other are those practising “high risk cosmetic or aesthetic” treatments. Explained Dr Hegan: “While we have seen an increase in the frequency of litigation, we have not seen the large increases in the awards of damages that we are experiencing in some other countries.”
Mrs Tan-Huang Shuo Mei, head of service quality at Singapore General Hospital (SGH), agreed that many complaints stem from miscommunication. Over the past year, the number of complaints against the hospital and its doctors has gone up by 3 per cent, she said, adding the increase “is largely due to increasing patient expectations”.
The hospital usually deals with complaints by arranging for the patients and their families to meet the team that looked after them, so they can ask questions and clear up misunderstandings.
Another reason for the increase in claims could be the larger number of doctors practising today. Over the past five years, this figure has gone up by about 40 per cent – from 6,482 in 2006 to 9,030 last year.
The Singapore Medical Council has also been receiving more complaints, but some are filed not by the public but by the Health Ministry, against doctors who are lax in their prescriptions of drugs such as sleeping pills.
Click for jpeg format
« Back to previous
page
back to top