Duo from senior centre fined after elderly wheelchair-bound man rolls off platform and dies

SINGAPORE: While loading elderly clients from their senior care centre into a van to ferry them home, a healthcare assistant and a driver were negligent in their handling of a 76-year-old man.

The wheels of the man's wheelchair were not locked, so he rolled off a platform meant to lift him into the van. His head struck the floor, and he died.

Moe Thadar, a 49-year-old health care assistant from Myanmar, and 67-year-old Singaporean driver Kwa Kim Seng were each fined S$10,000 (US$7,500) by a court on Thursday (Dec 7).

They pleaded guilty to one count each of a negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, causing the death of the victim.

The court heard that Moe and Kwa worked for Active Global Home & Community Care (Singapore), a company providing services for the care of the elderly.

Moe had been working there for six years when the incident happened, while Kwa had worked at the company for 10-and-a-half months.

At about 4.40pm on Feb 3, 2021, the pair were loading elderly clients into the van at the senior care centre's pick-up point near Block 31A, Ghim Moh Link, in order to ferry them home.

The victim, 76-year-old Hassan Mohamed Karchi Arsan Osman, was the second to be loaded into the van.

Moe wheeled Mr Hassan onto the platform of a lift which was used to load wheelchair-bound patients into the van.

According to Active Global's standard operating procedures (SOP), which both the offenders had been taught, a healthcare assistant is responsible for locking both wheels of the client's wheelchair before the lift is activated.

The driver, who activates the lift, is responsible for ensuring the client's safety as the platform is being raised.

This includes checking that the wheels of the wheelchair have been locked before raising the platform, and holding the wheelchair as it is being raised as an extra precaution against it rolling back.

The driver is supposed to release his grip on the wheelchair only after a different healthcare assistant stationed inside the van takes control of the wheelchair to pull it into the van.

That day, Moe walked away from Mr Hassan without engaging the brakes of his wheelchair.

As she walked away, she told Kwa: "Uncle, hold". This was an indication to Kwa that the victim was ready to be lifted, and that Kwa should hold on to the wheelchair.

Kwa also did not ensure that the brakes were engaged. He raised the platform while maintaining a loose grip on the victim's wheelchair.

He faced away from the victim while raising the platform, as he was chatting with a colleague.

As the platform neared the top of the lift in line with the van, Kwa removed his grip from the wheelchair before waiting for the healthcare assistant inside the van to hold onto it.

The wheelchair rolled backwards and fell off the platform. The back of the victim's head struck the ground.

He was taken to hospital unconscious and bleeding from the back of his head. He was pronounced dead later that day, with a head injury certified as the cause of death.

Apart from the injury, he was otherwise in relatively good health, said the prosecutor.

INVESTIGATIONS

Investigations revealed that the SOP was routinely not followed by Active Global staff, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Jeremy Bin.

The lift was also fitted with a roll-stop, a flap that would be raised at the back of the platform to prevent a wheelchair from rolling back.

However, at the time of the incident, the roll-stop was not operational and Active Global did not require it to be used as part of its SOP.

The SOP also prescribed an incorrect use of the lift. Correct use would require clients to be loaded facing outward instead, and would require the roll-stop to be fully functional.

According to tests by the Health Sciences Authority, the wheelchair would not have rolled off the platform if just one wheel had been locked.

Mr Bin sought the maximum fine of S$10,000 for both offenders, noting that this case involved "momentary negligence", so a non-jail sentence would suffice.

However, he said the victim's family had placed him under the care of Active Global so he could "age gracefully, spending his time socialising with friends in a safe environment where his needs were cared for".

"His tragic death was entirely preventable, and was significantly contributed to by the carelessness of both accused persons - carelessness by the very people in charge of his safety," said Mr Bin.

MITIGATION

Kwa's lawyer, Mr Vinit Chhabra, said his client was extremely sad and sorry for the victim's death.

Kwa had gone to Active Global to work because he felt the need to contribute meaningfully to eldercare at that stage of his life.

On the day in question, Kwa had actually ended his work shift but helped stand in for another driver who was not around.

He was not familiar with the van in question and had not driven it as often as his usual van, said Mr Chhabra.

Moe's lawyer, Mr Gogulakannan Suppayya, said his client placed the victim on the platform and handed him over to Kwa.

"It was only after the wheelchair ramp reached the top, which was outside my client's control at that point, that the wheelchair toppled over," he said.

The lawyer asked for a lower fine, saying Moe "truly loves her job" and has "upgraded herself in so many ways to become a better healthcare worker".

"With this conviction, she's worried that she may not even be able to renew her permit to work in Singapore," said Mr Gogulakannan. 

The judge agreed with the prosecution that the negligence was momentary, so a jail term was not warranted.

For causing the death of a person by a negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, an offender can be jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.