Hong Kong specialist in child medicine banned
Baby subject to ‘indiscriminate prescription of steroids’, Medical Council told
A paediatrician has been banned from practising for three months without suspension after he was found guilty of seven charges of professional misconduct.
Dr Wilson Fung Yee-leung, a former vice-president of the Medical Association, who has been a practising paediatrician since 1998, was accused of charges including inappropriately prescribing two types of steroids to a 10-month-old boy and administering excessive dosages of the drug from December 2010 to January 2011.
“I have nothing to say and I would let the public be the judge. I think I have done the best for the patient,” Fung said after the hearing at the Medical Council on Tuesday.
The council heard that the baby, whose name was not disclosed, was first referred to Fung by his mother on December 31, 2010, after he displayed symptoms of cold or influenza.
When he did not show any improvement, the council was told Fung prescribed inhaled steroids without sufficient clinical evidence to prove the boy was suffering from acute bronchiolitis, a condition that may be treated by such medication.
The council said any quantity of steroids would be “high and excessive” to the boy if he did not suffer from a condition that required the drugs.