'Doctor lied to me over inducing labour', former actress Eugina Lau Mei-kuen tells hearing

Former actress Eugina Lau Mei-kuen told a Medical Council hearing that her obstetrician lied to her when she induced her labour without her knowledge or permission.

Her first child, Cheung Tin-lam, died a day after being born at St Teresa's Hospital in Kowloon City in 2005. Obstetrician Dr Christine Choy Ming-yan and paediatrician Dr Wan Kam-ming were charged with professional misconduct after Lau and her husband, singer Peter Cheung Shung-tak, lodged a complaint.

The couple claim that Choy induced the baby by rupturing the amniotic membrane during a routine check-up a month before the child was due. Cheung earlier told the hearing that the couple believed Choy had induced labour because she had a trip planned, a claim Choy denies.

"She lied ... in breaking the amniotic membrane, and without my knowledge she used a labour-inducing drug," Lau testified. "On the morning that my baby died, she [Choy] said she was going to leave Hong Kong. It was as if this was all under her arrangement.

"As a mother I would not have chosen to give birth at that time, but she didn't give me a choice."

Choy's records, presented to the council, said she had suggested Lau opt for a caesarean section, both during the pregnancy and also on the night of delivery, but Lau refused because she wanted a natural delivery.