Patient's tendons broke after steroid injections

A woman's finger tendons broke after she was injected with steroids without her consent, a medical council disciplinary inquiry heard yesterday.

Rheumatologist Ronald Francis Tan is facing two charges of professional misconduct for allegedly giving two steroid injections to Ho Shuk-ha in December 2006 without proper explanation and informed consent.

Tan told the inquiry he had explained the effects and content of the injections clearly to the patient.

Ho, who is in her 50s, told the council she had been a patient of Tan's since 1990. In mid-December 2006, she had a lump on her hand that hurt. Tan prescribed injections, which Ho said she received on December 15 and December 23 without knowing their content. She said she did not question Tan, as she had 'always believed in him'.

After two of Ho's finger tendons broke, on December 31 and January 1, she went to see Tan and asked him whether he had given her steroids. He did not reply directly, recommending instead that she take a HK$4,800 blood test, as she might have immunity system problems.

Ho switched to another doctor, who performed hand surgery on her. But she said her hand function afterwards was only 70 per cent of normal.