Anaesthetist Who Left Patient Mid-Surgery To Take Phone Calls Suspended After Patient Dies
The anaesthetist left the operating theatre "multiple times", with the longest period being nine minutes.
By Kay Ng — 11 Jan 2023, 03:16 PM
An anaesthetist who left the operating theatre multiple times to take calls while his patient was undergoing surgery was suspended for 2.5 years on 10 January
In 2016, the 64-year-old patient had surgery performed at Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore, due to a fracture caused by bone marrow cancer, according to The Straits Times.
The patient encountered a complication during the operation as a blood clot blocked oxygen from his lung, otherwise known as a pulmonary embolism. He was resuscitated, but died the next day.
The tribunal stated his chances of surviving the embolism were likely lowered by the anaesthetist Dr Islam Md Towfique's delay in recognising the change in his patient's blood oxygen levels.
"Increasing the oxygen delivery is one of the first few actions that an anaesthetist should initiate when a patient's [oxygen saturation] falls. Yet, for almost 50 minutes ... this remedial action was not taken," stated hospital parent firm Parkway Pantai Ltd.
Dr Islam argued there wasn't anything wrong with him leaving his patient for short periods as this "behaviour would not be that different from that of his other anaesthetic colleagues"
"I was with the patient and did apply my expertise to keep the haemodynamics, but I forgot to increase the oxygen to 100%," he stated.
He was suspended for six months in 2017.
Prosecutors at Dr Islam's disciplinary tribunal said things can go wrong very quickly, stressing, "We need to be there... there is not at any point... that it's safe for an anaesthetist to leave the patient".
"All you need is less than a minute for things to go wrong," they added.
The hospital's closed-circuit television (CCTV) showed the anaesthetist leaving the operating theatre "multiple times", with the longest period lasting up to nine minutes.
The anaesthetist also admitted that these phone calls were not urgent and the tribunal ruled that his conduct was motivated by financial gain
Most of the calls were from overseas and local patients who wanted to know when they could come in for treatment.
Thus, he "was simply servicing other patients who would be paying his fees after coming to Singapore for treatment", according to the tribunal.
Given the long time it took for the case to be heard, Dr Islam requested that his sentence be reduced by one-third.
However, the tribunal took note of his continued practice of accepting calls while in the midst of surgery and declared that a one-sixth reduction was more suitable.
