A specialist is facing misconduct allegations after he treated a doctor's wife for kidney cancer using an experimental vaccine not registered by the Department of Health.
Oncologist Dr Bernard Chan Wan-bun was yesterday accused at a Medical Council hearing of disregarding his 'professional responsibility to treat or care' for his patient, Maisie Ching May-yee, who died in 2000.
The complaint by Ms Ching's husband, Dr Richard Loh Kok-siong, head of paediatric immunology at Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth, Western Australia, alleged that he gave her a tumor vaccine without explaining its nature, efficacy and risks or alternative treatment.
It also alleges Dr Chan did not obtain the 'proper informed' consent of the patient.
Dr Chan, who has a clinic at the Hong Kong Sanitorium and Hospital, is the only person in the SAR who carries out the experimental vaccine treatment for fighting cancers. The procedure involves extracting tumour cells which are manipulated in a laboratory. The cells are then injected into the patient to stimulate an immune response.
Ms Ching, a Boston-based businesswoman, was diagnosed with an advanced form of renal carcenoma in December 1999 and died in April 2000.