a better analogy would be;
ur photographer fren helps u take the photos and charges you $400 for it. then u pass off the photos as your own and charge the client $200k
Exhorbitant charges by Dr Susan Lim
- Thread starter La Fontaine
- Start date
a better analogy would be;
ur photographer fren helps u take the photos and charges you $400 for it. then u pass off the photos as your own and charge the client $200k
after this case, if it turns out that she loses the case, her loss of credibility and reputation is enough to 'kill' her standing in the eyes of her colleagues.
this sort of mark-up is very common in many luxury fields... like in fashion and beauty industries... look at those shoes and bags, they are made in low-cost centres, in China or Vietnam or elsewhere, in factory production lines, yet they charge prices at levels that would be considered a mark-up even if they were created by mastercraftspersons in Europe... prices might sound unreasonable, but there are no laws against unreasonable mark-ups... you produce something or provide a service, you are entitled to sell it at what you think is appropriate, provided the pricing is available up-front to the consumer...
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the story is in the newspapers.. true, the newspapers are pretty much controlled, but i would like to say, that this is a complaint not from our local side but from the Bruneian Istana.
her doctor friend billed her for services rendered to the patient, and then she inflated the bill to many times the original amount.
and have you ever heard of a terminal patient being billed in the millions for just 7 months of treatment?
or have you encountered a doctor who bills you $10000 for a bottle of pills that costs only like...$100? (this is like an example of what she did).
she might be well-known in the medical circle, but it doesn't justify inflating the costs to unrealistic proportions.
if a rich man and a poor man both stay at TTSH for 5 days, same class of suites and with the same service, i daresay, they'll be charged the same.
Sion
Senior Member
photography is not a matter of life and death.
It is if you are a XMM shooter.
One week don't shoot can die liao. :bsmilie: :bsmilie:
Or if you forgot to PP the results and upload to CS straightaway.
Didn't shoot can die also.. comment on model's outfit and you're dead... :bsmilie:
worse still, if you dont PS the images and email to the xmm by Wed, you are as good as the dead goosemeat :sweat:
Sion
Senior Member
actually... if she has any role to play in the death of the patient... that's a whole new ball game.
and i'm not sure if the hippocratic oath has anything to do with the wallets of the patients as well :bsmilie:
need a doctor to verify
Well i'm sure she is already a multi-millionaire even before this saga... which doctor (of her age) in private practice isn't?
maybe paying for the privacy lor
consultation: $400
closing the shop just for the Royal patient: $210K - $400 = $209600
so total bill $210K :bigeyes:
This matter has multi-dimensions.
Is it a matter of willing buyer-willing seller where the fee was agreed upon beforehand.
Even if it was there is the added dimension of what is conscionable conduct. i.e. just because A agreed with B, does it mean that B can grossly overcharge.
Because this is about medicine and medical care of fellow human beings. It is not about buying and selling a product, like for example timber logs or bales of rubber.
The idea of raking this through the news in great detail of the examples of overcharging and inflating of bills is deliberate. It is to shame the doctor and it is hard for her to continue attracting patients after this. Though she is a well known doctor, well...there are lots of good doctors for people to choose from. With a character assassination like that, she is finished as far as attracting future patients is concerned. Unless there is a medical procedure that she and only she can do and no one else in the whole world at this time. Only Dr. Christian Barnard can claim that at the time when he performed the first heart transplant in December 1967.
Her fellow doctors will also be shocked that their reasonable bills to her for services performed for this patient, had been inflated so grossly. The aftermath of this is whether she can face her fellow doctors and how will the medical profession treat/regard her from now on. Will she be shunned and treated like a pariah? Don't know - wait and see.
If the medical council strikes her off and does not allow her to practice medicine even for a period of say, 1 year, it is also damaging. There is no reputation left.
Nevertheless, this doctor is already extremely well off probably with tens of millions dollars and livelihood is not the issue here.
The authorities cannot don't do anything because a foreign kingdom close to us has complained officially.
It is also a death blow to Singapore's medical hub dreams if nothing is done and the whole world thinks Sing doctors all grossly overcharge like that. They will go to Malacca or Thailand. So there is no choice but to follow through.
One thing all ordinary Singaporeans must be wondering......if one is already so extremely rich...then why is there a need to be so money grubbing? It is really very strange indeed.
Is it a matter of willing buyer-willing seller where the fee was agreed upon beforehand.
Even if it was there is the added dimension of what is conscionable conduct. i.e. just because A agreed with B, does it mean that B can grossly overcharge.
Because this is about medicine and medical care of fellow human beings. It is not about buying and selling a product, like for example timber logs or bales of rubber.
The idea of raking this through the news in great detail of the examples of overcharging and inflating of bills is deliberate. It is to shame the doctor and it is hard for her to continue attracting patients after this. Though she is a well known doctor, well...there are lots of good doctors for people to choose from. With a character assassination like that, she is finished as far as attracting future patients is concerned. Unless there is a medical procedure that she and only she can do and no one else in the whole world at this time. Only Dr. Christian Barnard can claim that at the time when he performed the first heart transplant in December 1967.
Her fellow doctors will also be shocked that their reasonable bills to her for services performed for this patient, had been inflated so grossly. The aftermath of this is whether she can face her fellow doctors and how will the medical profession treat/regard her from now on. Will she be shunned and treated like a pariah? Don't know - wait and see.
If the medical council strikes her off and does not allow her to practice medicine even for a period of say, 1 year, it is also damaging. There is no reputation left.
Nevertheless, this doctor is already extremely well off probably with tens of millions dollars and livelihood is not the issue here.
The authorities cannot don't do anything because a foreign kingdom close to us has complained officially.
It is also a death blow to Singapore's medical hub dreams if nothing is done and the whole world thinks Sing doctors all grossly overcharge like that. They will go to Malacca or Thailand. So there is no choice but to follow through.
One thing all ordinary Singaporeans must be wondering......if one is already so extremely rich...then why is there a need to be so money grubbing? It is really very strange indeed.
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I don't think legally there's any offence she has committed. It just so happens that this is related to medical matters (something we hold close at heart) and it happens to Singapore where we are now.
Doctors in private practice are money-minded. By that, I don't mean they are greedy (though perhaps some are). But I mean they run their expertise as a business, just like any savvy businessmen.
My nephew went to a dentist in Orchard Road and was cheated into doing all sorts of stupid procedures which he later realized was deemed unnecessary by his neighbourhood dentist. Anyway, even then, the Orchard dentist wanted to charge him thousands of $ which he could get it for a few hundred $ elsewhere. My nephew brought this matter up to the Singapore Dental Association in case more people get cheated but the useless retired dentist in charge of complaints there told him to move on and drop the case!
I'm sure there are businesses out there which work in the same manner too. Just unfortunate for the doc that her case was further investigated.
Recall the TT Durai case. If he wasn't stupid enough to want to take legal actions against SPH, he'd most likely still be in office enjoying his gold tap and many more citizens would donate to NKF thinking their hard-earned money was put to good use.
It just takes one incident to open up a can of worms. Otherwise, everything is under wraps. As they say, if you want to steal or do something wrong, go ahead. Just don't get caught.
This material world is all about $$$....
Doctors in private practice are money-minded. By that, I don't mean they are greedy (though perhaps some are). But I mean they run their expertise as a business, just like any savvy businessmen.
My nephew went to a dentist in Orchard Road and was cheated into doing all sorts of stupid procedures which he later realized was deemed unnecessary by his neighbourhood dentist. Anyway, even then, the Orchard dentist wanted to charge him thousands of $ which he could get it for a few hundred $ elsewhere. My nephew brought this matter up to the Singapore Dental Association in case more people get cheated but the useless retired dentist in charge of complaints there told him to move on and drop the case!
I'm sure there are businesses out there which work in the same manner too. Just unfortunate for the doc that her case was further investigated.
Recall the TT Durai case. If he wasn't stupid enough to want to take legal actions against SPH, he'd most likely still be in office enjoying his gold tap and many more citizens would donate to NKF thinking their hard-earned money was put to good use.
It just takes one incident to open up a can of worms. Otherwise, everything is under wraps. As they say, if you want to steal or do something wrong, go ahead. Just don't get caught.
This material world is all about $$$....
logically, if one has heart problem, one would consult a cardiologist. however, in dr lim's case, she is a 'renowned' surgeon who was supposedly chosen by an advanced breast cancer patient. (of course, the patient/('istana' will pay) is super rich, so the choice is hers to make.) so, in our limited mind, one cannot fathom why not a female 'renowned' oncologist be helming the team treating her?
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apparently she also had others diagnosing and treating the patient. so most likely, she was doing post-surgery care.
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