Susan Lim case: SMC's lawyer says Brunei govt found fees exorbitant, unjustified

The Brunei government found Dr Susan Lim's fees "exorbitant and unjustified", said lawyer Alvin Yeo in his defence of the Singapore Medical Council's disciplinary committee's verdict that she was guilty of professional misconduct for overcharging a royal patient.

Mr Yeo told a Court of Appeal on Tuesday that from May to June 2007, the patient was in the intensive care unit and being looked after by the doctors and nurses there.

"In this period, Dr Lim's fees extraordinarily increased to $250,000 to $450,000 per day, essentially for visiting the patient and monitoring her status while she was in the ICU under the care of other doctors," he said.

That Dr Lim did not know there was a rule prohibiting overcharging was "both unbelievable and shocking", he said.