Negligent driver, healthcare aide each get S$10,000 fine for failing to secure 76-year-old's wheelchair, causing his death
Kwa Kim Seng (L) and Moe Thadar (R) arriving at the State Courts on Dec 7, 2023.
Join our WhatsApp or Telegram channels for the latest updates, or follow us on TikTok and Instagram.
- Kwa Kim Seng and Moe Thandar were found negligent in moving 76-year-old wheelchair-bound Hassan Mohamed into a van
- They were both taught the firm's standard operating procedure when transferring clients into a van
- However, Hassan's wheelchair rolled backwards and off the platform when they handled him
- This caused his death after his head hit the ground
- Kwa and Moe were each fined S$10,000
BY
JASMINE ONG
Published December 7, 2023Updated December 7, 2023
WhatsAppTelegramFacebookTwitterEmailLinkedIn
SINGAPORE — A driver and a healthcare assistant failed to observe operating procedures in moving a 76-year-old into a van, causing the man's death after he hit his head on the ground when his wheelchair rolled off the loading platform.
On Thursday (Dec 7), driver Kwa Kim Seng, 67, and healthcare assistant Moe Thandar, 49, were each fined S$10,000 after they pleaded guilty to committing a negligent act, which resulted in the death of the man.
The court heard that Kwa and Moe were both working for a firm called Active Global, which runs senior care centres that provide daycare for elders.
Active Global would take its clients to the centres in the morning, facilitate meals, socialisation and activities, as well as care for their health before taking them home in the evening.
TODAY has reached out to Active Global to ascertain Kwa and Moe's employment status.
WHAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO DO
Both Kwa and Moe worked for the Active Global Senior Care Centre located at Blk 31A Ghim Moh Link.
Their duties included ferrying elders to and from the centre each day using a specially equipped van that allowed wheelchair-bound passengers to be loaded up using a lift.
When the lift is in use, the platform would slope downward slightly toward the rear.
Healthcare assistants and drivers are required to follow Active Global's standard operating procedure (SOP) to prevent wheelchairs from rolling backwards.
The healthcare assistants are responsible for locking both wheels of the client's wheelchair before the lift is activated.
The driver, who activates the lift, is then responsible for checking that the wheels of the wheelchair have been locked before raising the platform, and holding on to the wheelchair as it is being raised.
READ ALSO
59-year-old doctor gets 6 weeks' jail for causing death of liposuction patient
Once another healthcare assistant stationed inside the van has taken control of the wheelchair, the driver would be able to release his grip.
ADVERTISEMENT
Kwa and Moe were taught these procedures while they were on the job.
WHAT HAPPENED
On the afternoon of Feb 3 in 2021, Moe and Kwa were loading seniors into the van at the centre's pick-up point to fetch them home.After moving the first client into the van successfully, Moe wheeled the victim Hassan Mohamed from the pick-up point onto the platform of the van's lift.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jeremy Bin said that this was when she failed to engage the brakes of Hassan's wheelchair before she walked away.
As Moe walked away, she told Kwa that Hassan's wheelchair was ready to be lifted and told him, "Uncle, hold", so that Kwa would hold on to the wheelchair, in line with the SOP.
However, Kwa failed to ensure that the brakes on the wheelchair were engaged.
Instead, he raised the platform and held onto the wheelchair with one hand, maintaining a loose grip, while operating the lift's controls with the other hand.
Kwa also was not facing the victim as he was chatting with another Active Global staff member.
As the platform was reaching the top of the lift, Kwa did not wait for the healthcare assistant inside the van to hold on to the wheelchair before he let go.
This resulted in the wheelchair rolling backwards and falling off the platform, and the back of Hassan's head hitting the ground.
Hassan was taken to the National University Hospital in an unconscious state, bleeding from the back of the head.
He was pronounced dead a few hours later from his head injury.
Tests conducted by the Health Sciences Authority showed that if just one wheel of Hassan's wheelchair had been locked, the wheelchair would not have rolled off the platform.
'TRAGIC DEATH ENTIRELY PREVENTABLE'
DPP Bin sought the maximum fine of S$10,000 each for Moe and Kwa because he said that the victim's tragic death was entirely preventable and was significantly contributed by the carelessness of the very people in charge of his safety."It is crucial to send a clear message particularly to persons in charge of safety of such vulnerable clients in eldercare environments because they undertake a heavy responsibility towards the safety of their employees, clients and themselves," he added.
For causing the death of any person by any negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, Kwa and Moe could have each been jailed for up to two years or fined, or both.
