Hong Kong medical body blasted by court for slow handling of child's amputated finger complaint
High Court orders review of complaint by family of affected child after 'inordinate delay'
A judge slammed as "a lamentable state of affairs" the Medical Council's handling of complaints against a paediatrician accused of causing an infant's finger to be amputated in 2009.
In a strongly worded judgment, Mr Justice Kevin Zervos of the High Court ordered the council, its chairman and deputy chairman to quash their decision to dismiss the family's second complaint and review it again.
The judge was handing down his decision for a case filed by Ray Law Yiu-wai, the father of Bosco Law Yin-pok, whose right index finger was amputated six years ago when he was 14 months old. The finger, injured in an accident, had been bandaged and ultimately developed gangrene.
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Law and his wife Lam Po-yee filed two complaints against paediatrician Dr Alvin Chan Yee-shing, who treated their son.
The first came in 2010, which was subsequently passed to Dr Gabriel Choi Kin and Professor Fok Tai-fai, the chairman and deputy chairman of the council's preliminary investigation committee, for their assessment.
The family did not hear back from the council until 2012, when the council ruled against the complaint.
When Law filed the complaint in question the second time, in 2013, he was not told it was dismissed until this year.
The judge said: "The inordinate delay in dealing with the second complaint … is a matter warranting scrutiny by the court."
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Zervos yesterday cited several factors for the council's delay, saying "the most obvious" were "protracted and cumbersome" procedures for handling complaints, a reliance on medical practitioners and laypersons, "inadequate administrative support", and a lack of "appropriate guidelines".
The council said it respected the judgment and would study the verdict.
Earlier this year, in the face of strong public criticism, council chairman Professor Joseph Lau Wan-yee pledged to reform the body to improve its accountability and assessment procedures.
