Doctor who performed negligent act that led to patient’s death gets 18 months’ jail

SINGAPORE – A doctor convicted of performing a negligent act that led to a patient’s death after an aesthetic treatment in 2019 has been sentenced to a year and six months’ jail.

Chan Bingyi, 38, had intravenously administered ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) to property agent Lau Li Ting, 31, when there was not a need to do so.

EDTA should be used only for specific indications, such as heavy metal poisoning or elevated calcium levels, and must be administered only by clinicians trained in its use.

According to the prosecution, he had administered the “dangerous substance” to Ms Lau at “too high a concentration and too quickly”, at a clinic called Revival Medical & Aesthetics Centre in Bras Basah Road on March 8, 2019.

Ms Lau, who had no underlying medical conditions, developed EDTA toxicity, which led to cardiac arrest, and she died in Singapore General Hospital (SGH) five days later.

Before handing down the sentence on May 14, Senior District Judge Ong Hian Sun said that Chan had betrayed the trust reposed in him as a doctor, and he had been motivated by monetary gain.

The judge also said that Chan knew of the risks of the treatment he had administered on Ms Lau, and had shown a breach in his duties.

Chan intends to appeal against his conviction and sentence.

On May 14, the court also approved his application to travel to Japan for leisure with his family between June 14 and 28.

As part his conditions, an additional bail of $20,000 has to be provided, and he must remain contactable by the investigating officer (IO)

Upon his return, Chan must also surrender his passport to the IO before noon on June 29.

Following a trial, Judge Ong convicted him in January of committing a negligent act that led to Ms Lau’s death.

Before the tragedy, Ms Lau went to the clinic at Esplanade Xchange shopping mall on March 8, 2019, for aesthetic reasons.

According to Chan, Ms Lau wanted to reduce fine lines on her forehead.

Deputy public prosecutors Thaddeus Tan and Jiang Ke Yue had stated in court documents that Chan, who attended to her, agreed to perform a “chelation” treatment, and EDTA was administered intravenously.

They added: “Chelation treatment involves the use of EDTA to bind to metallic ions and extract them from the body.

“Disodium EDTA, which the accused used in this case, binds preferentially to calcium – a mechanism that makes it inherently dangerous. This is because ionic calcium plays a critical role in essential bodily functions, including neurotransmission and neuromuscular function.”

They also said that when EDTA depletes calcium levels, patients can suffer heart failure and impaired muscle function.

Following the tragedy, Chan told the Ministry of Health (MOH) that he had agreed to provide the chelation treatment to her after a consultation that lasted about 15 minutes.

He told the ministry that Ms Lau then went to a procedure room and sat on a treatment bed, where a staff member helped Chan set up drip lines for saline to be administered intravenously to Ms Lau.

Chan said he left the room to draw 12.5cc of sodium bicarbonate and 12.5cc of “disodium ethyldiaminetetraacetic” acid in a syringe.

He told MOH that he returned to the procedure room and “slowly pumped in” both substances into a bag of saline connected to Ms Lau.

He said: “(After) about five minutes of talking, Ms Lau suddenly stopped talking. I tried to speak to her, but there was no response. I checked on her and realised that she was having a seizure.”

Chan told the ministry that he placed her in a “safe position” to make sure that she did not injure herself and allowed the seizure to “self-abort”.

He said that her seizure stopped about a minute or two later, and he told his staff to bring in a resuscitation kit.

He also said that he immediately switched off the drips when Ms Lau was having her seizure.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force was alerted. Officers who went to the clinic found that Ms Lau was not breathing, with no detectable pulse.

The DPPs said she was in critical condition when she arrived at SGH’s Department of Emergency Medicine.

They told the court that she died of EDTA toxicity on March 13, 2019.

Chan still has three other pending charges under the Health Products Act.

Among other things, he was charged in 2022 with possessing expired injection ampoules of adrenaline and a heartburn relief drug at Revival Medical & Aesthetics Centre in March 2019.

These charges will be dealt with at a later date.