Doctor suspended, censured

[General Veers]

Doctor suspended, censured
Posted: 09 March 2012 1416 hrs

Logo of Singapore Medical Council

SINGAPORE: A doctor has been suspended for three months and censured for professional misconduct, after he errantly prescribed drugs and behaved inappropriately with a patient.

Fifty-two-year-old Saifuddin Sidek is a registered medical practitioner and an obstetrician and gynaecologist.

He runs Sidek Clinic for Women, which is at Eastpoint in Simei.

The Singapore Medical Council (SMC) said on Friday Dr Saifuddin pleaded guilty to two charges during a disciplinary inquiry by its Disciplinary Committee (DC).

The DC acted on a complaint made on May 20, 2010.

The first charge relates to the way he prescribed benzodiazepines, which are for patients who suffer from insomnia or need short-term relief of anxiety.

The DC found Dr Saifuddin had been very lax in his prescriptions of the drug to his patient.

He had prescribed benzodiazepines to the patient on at least 14 occasions from August 2007 to April 2010, without maintaining any medical records.

He did not supervise the usage of the high dosage prescriptions or tried to taper down the dosages.

The DC found he even delivered the drugs to her personally and provided her with post-dated prescriptions through the post.

It described Dr Saifuddin's repeated prescriptions as "cavalier and irresponsible", given he was aware the patient's parents were seeking to regulate her reliance on benzodiazepines.

Instead of working with the patient's parents, Dr Saifuddin effectively undermined such efforts.

The DC said the dosages and quantities of benzodiazepines were exceedingly high and were completely unjustifiable by any clinical indication.

For this, he was suspended for three months.

Turning to the second charge of inappropriate conduct, the DC said there is nothing wrong in offering assistance to a patient but stressed a physician must observe the boundaries of a doctor-patient relationship.

It said when Dr Saifuddin started prescribing benzodiazepines to the patient after treating her as her gynaecologist, he continued a doctor-patient relationship with her.

The DC rejected Dr Saifuddin's claim that he had developed an "avuncular social relationship" with the patient.

It found he had allowed his relationship to cloud his judgement, which resulted in his errant prescription and in him checking the patient into various hotels.

However, it noted he genuinely wanted to help the patient.

The DC also took into account his good standing, his family's financial hardship and the testimonials tendered on his behalf.

He was censured for this charge.

The DC said while such a punishment may appear to be lenient, it's appropriate, given the punishment of suspension in the first charge.

It noted there was no evidence of any sexual relationship between Dr Saifuddin and the patient, nor any evidence he had attempted to take advantage of the patient.

It added if there had been any sexual relationship or attempt to take advantage of the patient, it would not hesitate to strike him off the Register of Medical Practitioners or to impose a long period of suspension.

Besides the suspension and censure, the DC also ordered Dr Saifuddin to give a written undertaking to the SMC that he'll not repeat such misconduct, as well as bear the costs and expenses of the disciplinary proceedings.

- CNA/wk