‘Hell hath no fury like a lady scorned’: Lady loses negligence lawsuit towards psychiatrist

CHANGED EVIDENCE TO FIT HER CASE

In her present negligence lawsuit towards Dr Chan, Ms Tiong claimed that he gave her an addictive drug and that he advised her he was dedicated to a long-term and unique sexual relationship along with her.

She additionally alleged that she suffered a “psychological and emotional breakdown” when she found his relationships with different ladies.

She argued that as her de facto physician, Dr Chan owed her an obligation of care to make sure that she wouldn’t develop into hooked on Xanax.

Ms Tiong additionally claimed to have suffered negative effects from the alleged excessive dosages of medication given to her, which was evident in how she confronted him at his clinic in entrance of workers and sufferers in June 2018.

In his defence, Dr Chan argued that different psychiatrists continued to prescribe Xanax to Ms Tiong after they broke up and their communications didn’t help her assertion that she suffered negative effects from taking the drug.

The important thing points throughout the trial included what number of tablets Dr Chan had given to Ms Tiong and the way steadily he gave her the tablets.

She asserted that he gave her 280 or 330 tablets from February 2017 to Might 2018, whereas he stated that he gave her simply 14 tablets for short-term use in Might 2018.

Justice Tan discovered Dr Chan’s model of occasions to be extra credible, ruling that Ms Tiong’s proof on this “essential pillar” of the case was “gravely inconsistent and irreconcilable”.

Ms Tiong “vacillated repeatedly” on what number of Xanax tablets Dr Chan gave her, Justice Tan discovered. Contemporaneous data from Singapore Normal Hospital additionally refuted her declare that Dr Chan gave her 160 tablets from Might 2017 to March 2018.

Ms Tiong later claimed that these inconsistencies had been as a result of reminiscence impairment or loss as a result of her Xanax consumption.

Justice Tan described this clarification as a “double-edged sword” as a result of it advised that her recollection of occasions and courtroom testimony had been unreliable.

Provided that the variety of Xanax tablets was the guts of her declare for medical negligence, the decide stated that her conflicting proof proved deadly and spoke volumes about her reliability as witness.

Justice Tan wrote: “At one level, Ms Tiong herself appeared conscious of the persistently conflicting nature of her proof, agreeing throughout cross-examination that she was re-engineering her proof on the amount of Xanax to suit her case.”

NO BREACH OF CARE

Justice Tan then discovered that in consequence, Dr Chan didn’t breach his responsibility of care to Ms Tiong. The decide additionally rubbished her declare that she suffered from Xanax dependency.

One other medical knowledgeable testified that the chance of bodily dependency on the drug was very low, even when Dr Chan had prescribed the best amount of Xanax — about two to a few tablets every week from February 2017 to March 2018.

The knowledgeable additional refuted Ms Tiong’s claims that she suffered antagonistic negative effects after greater than a 12 months of consuming Xanax. The knowledgeable stated that such negative effects would final solely 4 to 5 hours.

Justice Tan additionally accepted Dr Chan’s attorneys’ argument that in any case, no cheap psychiatrist would have continued prescribing the drug to her if she had negative effects.