Medical Council complaint inquiry adjourned to June 7

An inquiry into an alleged medical incident in 2009 has been adjourned to June 7 for closing submissions. The Medical Council disciplinary hearing centered around an incident that left a boy permanently disabled after developing cerebral palsy and quadriplegia soon after his birth. The boy’s parents alleged that a Baptist Hospital paediatrician, Sit Sou-chi, had been too slow to act on warnings from nurses about the baby's condition, after he developed a seizure in December 2009. On the second day of the hearing on Sunday, Sit said he believed the infant was choking on milk when he was notified by a nurse about the baby’s abnormal situation over a phone call at around 4.30am. Sit said he was told that the newborn developed abnormalities around an hour before the phone call, and he subsequently instructed the nurse to put the infant into an incubator, suspend feeding and continue observation. He also told the inquiry that he considered the possibility of a brain infection but believed it was unlikely as the baby’s situation had stabilised. Counsel for the Medical Council questioned whether Sit was telling the truth, as he had told the baby’s parents in a meeting eight days after the incident that the infant was suspected of having convulsions, according to an audio recording played at the hearing. In response, Sit said the context of the conversation should be considered as he made the remarks after the baby was diagnosed with meningitis. The inquiry was initially scheduled for 2016, but was repeatedly pushed back and eventually abandoned last year after the council's inquiry panel decided that too much time had passed for the doctor to get a fair hearing. In November, the council said it would reopen the inquiry after Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau ordered a review of how the medical watchdog operates. Edited by Priscilla Ng