Aesthetic doctor accused of causing woman's death claims trial; defence points to patient's alleged use of slimming products

SINGAPORE: A woman who died while receiving aesthetic treatment at a clinic had allegedly been taking medication and health supplements before the treatment, a court heard on Monday (Mar 18) during the trial of her doctor.

Dr Chan Bingyi, 35, is accused of negligence when he administered ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, or EDTA, to Ms Lau Li Ting on Mar 8, 2019.

EDTA is a common ingredient in skincare and cosmetic products which acts as a chelator or binding agent that suppresses chemical activity.

Dr Chan allegedly administered the acid at too high a concentration and too quickly at the clinic at Revival Medical & Aesthetics Centre along Bras Basah Road.

According to the charge sheet, this caused Ms Lau, who was 31, to develop EDTA toxicity leading to her cardiac arrest and eventual death. 

Dr Chan is still registered as a medical practitioner on the Ministry of Health's registry. 

His trial opened on Monday with the prosecution calling Ms Lau's father as a witness and the defence pointing to her alleged use of medication and slimming products. 

Ms Lau's father, Mr Lau Yau Sui, testified that he last saw his daughter on the morning of the incident. She had been due to fly to China that evening for a business trip with a friend, Mr Lau said through a Mandarin interpreter. 

While he was at work, he received a call from Dr Chan telling him that his daughter had suffered a cardiac arrest while undergoing aesthetic treatment.  

"Initially I did not believe him because I knew that she would be travelling at night, where would she have time to do (aesthetic) treatment at that moment?" he said. 

"Dr Chan told me that he was about to do the (aesthetic) treatment and before that, he had to inject a numbing material and before he could do that my daughter had a seizure followed by cardiac arrest and had to be sent to emergency department of Singapore General Hospital." 

The father went to the hospital after 4pm and was told by a doctor that her daughter had arrived "over the golden time" for rescue, and it would be "very difficult" to save her. 

"According to the doctor ... for those senior people they would forgo the treatment to save the patients but because my daughter is younger they would try to save her," he said. 

His wife, who also went to the hospital, asked the doctor about Ms Lau's condition and was told that it was "not hopeful". 

"Usually if the heart stops beating for more than 30 minutes, it's not likely to be saved. Because the brain has a lack of oxygen so (she) will be brain dead," Mr Lau recalled.

Earlier reports state that Ms Lau was placed on life support for several days before she died on Mar 13.

Mr Lau testified that his daughter had no known health conditions, but that she had been consuming medication due to sleeping problems and depression after being "seriously assaulted" by an ex-boyfriend years earlier. 

He added that she had been taking health supplements, but could not specify what kind. 

Mr Lau was then shown his daughter's medical records, which stated that she had been taking weight loss supplements. 

Asked about this, Mr Lau maintained his daughter could not be taking weight loss supplements as she was "not fat". 

Upon cross-examination by Dr Chan's lawyer Adrian Wee, however, Mr Lau admitted that he would not have known for sure whether his daughter was consuming slimming products. 

Mr Lau was also shown his police statement made in March 2019, when he stated that his daughter had been consuming vitamins and slimming products since a year ago, and that she had undergone the same aesthetic treatment in January 2019. 

Asked by the defence about his mention of slimming products, Mr Lau said he could not recall having said it. 

Mr Wee also asked Mr Lau if he had been aware that his daughter had been unable to sleep even after taking medication, to which Mr Lau replied: "No, she told me that after taking the medication, she can sleep better." 

Mr Wee then showed the elderly man a document from Ms Lau's psychiatrist around a week before the incident, stating that Ms Lau had been having nightmares and flashbacks of her assault in 2017, triggered by her relationship with her current boyfriend. She was noted to have been prescribed new medication to help her sleep. 

Mr Lau said he was not aware of this update. 

When asked by the judge to clarify the direction of the questions, Mr Wee said that the defence wanted to show that Mr Lau was not in a position to say if the deceased had been consuming slimming products. 

Ms Lau had 400g of pill residue in her stomach at her time of death which was "unaccounted for", Mr Wee added. This is equivalent to about 600 Paracetamol pills, he said. 

"That has not been adequately addressed in expert reports so we are addressing this issue," said Mr Wee, adding that the defence will be questioning Ms Lau's mother on the issue when she takes the stand. 

Dr Chan faces one count of causing the death of Ms Lau by a negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide.

The trial continues on Monday afternoon.