Doctors' new chief hits out at $100m negligence awards
Three medical blunders in Hong Kong have led to out-of-court payouts of more than $100 million each, the Hong Kong Medical Association's new president, Gabriel Choi Kin, has revealed.
One patient suffered from cerebral palsy after a botched delivery, another had birth injuries but the third was unknown.
Dr Choi labelled the compensation awards, settled out of court, as 'grotesque' and blamed them for jacking up medical negligence premiums in Asia.
Dr Choi said the association had asked the government to cap the amount of compensation to aggrieved patients.
But the plan was yesterday criticised by the Patients Rights Group, which said patients' interests should not be compromised and that a cap would be unfair to someone who suffered severe harm through a doctor's negligence.
Hong Kong doctors are now paying up to $99,950 a year to the Medical Protection Society for coverage in medical indemnity suits, according to a list of subscription rates provided to the South China Morning Post.
General practitioners who do not undertake obstetrics or cosmetic procedures pay $19,500, while those who do pay $39,995. Specialists in obstetrics pay the highest rate, while doctors doing 'very high risk procedures' such as neurosurgery and orthopaedic and plastic surgery pay $85,500. High-risk surgeries attract a $60,000 yearly premium while doctors in low-risk specialities such as family medicine pay $17,125.
In comparison, doctors working in high risk specialist areas can pay more than US$200,000 a year for insurance in the US and more than A$60,000 (HK$335,000) in Australia.
Dr Choi said most negligence claims are settled out of court, so details of the nature of procedures were not reported even to the Hong Kong Medical Association, which acts as manager of the Medical Protection Society in the city. Dr Choi was elected on Thursday to succeed Lo Wing-lok, who is seeking a second Legislative Council term in September's elections.
Dr Choi said one case that paid out $100 million almost broke the society because the premiums paid by all Hong Kong doctors could not make up for it.
As the money was pooled with doctors' contributions from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia, 'we [in Hong Kong] are using the funds of our neighbouring Asian countries', he said.
Dr Choi also said the annual intakes of medical students at the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University would be cut from 120 to 90. The universities would take in about 30 mainland students to make up for loss of funding from the cut, he said.
