Woman questioned by police in viral video abused staff
A woman’s claims that she was refused treatment at a hospital here because she is not a Singaporean citizen were refuted by the hospital on Thursday.
The incident went viral on social media after a video was posted on Chinese social media platform Douyin on Tuesday. The woman had recorded herself being interviewed by the police. Law enforcement officers were called in following complaints that she had been verbally abusive to hospital staff.
She alleged that she had waited for three hours at the hospital’s emergency department without being attended to by a doctor after being hit by a car, and claimed that a nurse told her she would not receive treatment because she was not a Singaporean.
However, Associate Professor Kenneth Tan, the head and senior consultant for the department of emergency medicine at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) told The Straits Times that she was discharged from the emergency department about two hours following her arrival “after being thoroughly reviewed by our clinical team”.
“We would like to reiterate that everyone who presents at our emergency department will receive the care required,” he added.
According to Prof Tan, the woman had turned hostile towards hospital employees after she refused to put on a face mask.
He said: “During the triage process at the entry to our emergency department, the patient was handed a mask after a staff member noticed that she was not wearing one.
“She refused to put it on and became abusive when our staff reminded her about the ministry’s guidelines on mask wearing in hospitals.”
Mask wearing, which was common during the Covid-19 pandemic, was stood down in most settings earlier this year, though the Ministry of Health has retained this requirement in certain settings, such as in private and public hospitals.
“Masking is required in all clinical areas in the hospital to protect our patients and our colleagues. This is particularly important in the emergency department, where there are many ill and vulnerable patients,” Prof Tan said.
He said that the hospital has a protocol for employees who deal with abusive or aggressive patients or family members.
Nearby colleagues or supervisors would first step in to help the affected employee, and the hospital’s security and the police may be called if the abusive person could not be calmed or reasoned with, or if the safety of the hospital’s employees are at risk.
Prof Tan added that the hospital has regular courses to teach its employees how to de-escalate and manage such situations.
However, despite efforts by both medical and security staff, the woman continued to behave aggressively on Tuesday, resulting in the police being called in, he added.
“Her behaviour was disruptive to the operations as the hospital had to deploy more manpower to attend to the case at the expense of other emergency patients who were waiting to be seen,” he said.
The woman had put up two videos on Douyin, with more than 11 minutes of footage in total.
Both videos were in Mandarin, and she is seen in one trying to grab a plainclothes police officer’s lanyard as she demanded that the officer identify herself. This was despite the lanyard clearly stating the word “police”, as well as a uniformed officer standing nearby.
One video had 1,873 likes, while the second one had 1,927, with both being shared on multiple platforms, including TikTok. These videos have since collectively garnered more than a million views.
Prof Tan stressed that SGH does not tolerate any form of abuse or harassment towards its employees, and added: “We provide all patients with compassionate and personal care, though the hospital will not hesitate to take appropriate actions against abusive behaviour as our colleagues deserve a safe and respectful working environment.”
ST has contacted the police for more information.
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