A 19-year-old polytechnic student passed away in hospital on Jul. 6, 2020, after experiencing a seizure at home three months prior.

Wong Leong Jun's parents, both 54, sued Changi General Hospital (CGH) for S$900,000 for alleged negligence.

The hospital refuted the claims, as reported by Shin Min Daily News (Shin Min) on Jul. 18, 2024.

What happened

According to court documents seen by Shin Min, 19-year-old Wong was at home on Mar. 29, 2020, at around 12pm, when he suddenly had a severe seizure and collapsed onto the floor.

His parents rushed him to CGH for emergency care.

Wong, who his family described as "always being in good health", apparently could no longer speak clearly after reaching the hospital.

His family claimed that he had to rely on nodding and shaking his head to answer basic "yes or no" questions.

A doctor at the hospital allegedly said this was normal after a seizure.

Wong continued having several seizures for the next few days in the hospital, which worried his family as he continued to struggle to speak normally.

They consulted the hospital's specialist, who apparently reassured them it was normal and that the hospital would do an electroencephalogram (EEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for further examination.

The hospital also arranged for Wong to undergo a lumbar puncture and gave him medication for his seizures.

On Apr. 3, a week after Wong was hospitalised, the family said the doctor told them he suspected Wong might have autoimmune encephalitis and was recommended to undergo plasmapheresis immediately.

Wong was also recommended to be placed in a medically induced coma, and the family claimed that the doctors told them it was to avoid having frequent and prolonged seizures that would cause damage to his brain.

Wong was placed in a medically-induced coma on Apr. 3 and 4.

On Apr. 6, the hospital told Wpng's parents they had to transfer him to Singapore General Hospital (SGH) for continuous EEGs.

Parents claim son's death is CGH's fault

Wong's father claimed that CGH had informed him on Apr. 6 that Wong had to undergo plasmapheresis as soon as possible because it was a matter of life and death.

The father claimed he signed the consent form with assurance from the hospital that Wong would first undergo plasmapheresis before being transferred to the other hospital.

However, the father claimed that Wong had not undergone plasmapheresis before he was transferred to Singapore General Hospital (SGH) on Apr. 7.

SGH also claimed that CGH had not informed them of Wong's condition.

Wong underwent plasmapheresis on Apr. 7 at SGH.

His condition did not improve, and he passed away in SGH on Jul. 6, 2020.

Wong's parents claimed that their son's death was due to CGH's failure to provide treatment and medical advice in a timely matter. They also claimed that CGH did not correctly diagnose Wong and provide relevant treatment.

CGH refutes claims

CGH refuted Wong's parents' claims, denying all claims of negligence.

CGH stated in their defence that young male patients often have atypical symptoms and claimed it was difficult to determine if Wong had autoimmune encephalitis or infectious encephalitis.

CGH claimed they only confirmed Wong had autoimmune encephalitis after receiving the test report on Apr. 8.

CGH claimed that its doctor did not tell Wong's parents on Apr. 3 that Wong might have autoimmune encephalitis, as they have not ruled out infectious encephalitis.

On the reason why Wong's plasmapheresis was not done in CGH, CGH explained that plasmapheresis takes approximately six hours and requires observation for several hours afterwards.

CGH claimed that the decision on whether a patient should be transferred before or after plasmapheresis depends on when the transfer could be done.

CGH said they made the decision to have Wong transferred before having undergone plasmapheresis as they confirmed the transfer could be done on Apr. 6 itself.

In response to the parents' claims that the doctors at SGH were not informed of Wong's condition, CGH claimed that before transferring Wong to SGH at around 5:45pm on Apr. 6, a CGH doctor had called an SGH doctor to make the handover.

The case is currently in the initial stages before the High Courts.

Top image via Changi General Hospital website.