Bus operator Billion Stars Express is getting zero stars from customers after their alleged poor handling of an accident that took place en-route to Kuala Lumpur.
Disgruntled customers took to Facebook to voice their displeasure with Billion Stars Express, claiming that the company was uncontactable and unapologetic after the accident on Saturday morning (Nov 23).
The bus had been scheduled to depart Golden Mile Express Bus Terminal in Singapore at 7.30pm on Nov 22 and drop passengers off at Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur.
But along the way, the bus ended up flipping onto its side and coming to rest on a grass patch along the side of the road, according to pictures posted by affected passengers.
Kahironbe Mirah-mohideen, whose daughter had been on the bus with her friends, called for a boycott of Billion Stars Express, saying that she had tried calling the bus operator after the accident but to no avail.
The bus driver had not slept for 72 hours, added Mirah-mohideen.
Rakuten Kobo has announced the launch of its full range of e-readers and accessories in Singapore. This includes the Kobo Clara HD, Kobo Libra H2O, and Kobo Forma e-readers, and they’re now available to buy at retailers like Challenger, Courts, and kobo.com.
The Libra H2O is the company’s newest e-reader, and it’s a 7-inch waterproof device with ComfortLight Pro technology. This is a front light that can adjust its temperature based on the time of day, ranging from a cool blue tone to a warmer orange hue.
In addition, while it supports touch inputs, it also features physical buttons for turning pages and allows for reading in landscape mode. It uses a Carta E Ink display, the same as Amazon’s Kindle line.
LAGUNA: After enduring a nervy first quarter, Singapore’s netball team made it two wins in as many matches at the 30th SEA Games after beating Brunei on Wednesday (Nov 27).
The bronze medallists at the last edition of the Games were no pushovers, but were handed a 62-38 defeat by Singapore at the Santa Rosa multi-purpose sports complex in Laguna.
Brunei raced to a 4-1 lead early in the first quarter of the preliminary round match. A combination of sharp shooting and good defence meant they led Singapore 9-8 at the end of the quarter.
But Natalie Milicich’s team managed to gradually pull away in the second quarter, going into the half ahead 25-20.
A Brunei player attempts a shot during a SEA Games netball match against Singapore on Nov 27, 2019. (Photo: Matthew Mohan)
Singapore established a double digit lead for the first time in the third quarter as they continued to find their rhythm, stretching the lead to 43-28.
And the defending silver medallists proved simply too strong in the final quarter as they outlasted their opponents to close out the game.
Singapore’s Charmaine Soh plays a pass during a SEA Games netball match against Brunei on Nov 27, 2019. (Photo: Matthew Mohan)
At the last edition of the Games, Singapore missed out on gold after losing to host and causeway rivals Malaysia 65-41 in the finals.
Singapore will next face Thailand on Thursday.
A Brunei player is faced by two Singapore defenders during their SEA Games netball match on Nov 27, 2019. (Photo: Matthew Mohan)
Follow Mediacorp’s coverage of the 30th SEA Games and get the widest Team Singapore coverage with four LIVE channels on Toggle. Go to toggle.sg/seagames2019 for details
SINGAPORE: The National University Hospital (NUH) and its head neurosurgeon were not negligent in their treatment of a woman left in a vegetative state after a brain operation, a High Court judge found on Wednesday (Nov 27).
The family of 70-year-old Madam Goh Guan Sin had sued the hospital and head of neurosurgery Yeo Tseng Tai after the 2014 operation, claiming damages of about S$4.6 million.
The lawyers for Mdm Goh’s family said the “truly avoidable missteps” in her care, diagnosis, treatment and advice had resulted in her persistent vegetative state.
Mdm Goh is still at NUH, following complications that developed in the post-operative period of the surgery.
Her lawyers, from Providence Law and Virginia Quek Lalita & Partners, argued that this was after a blood clot was not treated early enough after the operation. An external ventricular drain (EVD) was inserted to treat it, which they called “dangerous” by itself and in the context of a pre-existing blood clot.
Justice Tan Siong Thye on Wednesday dismissed the suit, finding that the hospital had not fallen below the required standard of care in terms of monitoring Mdm Goh’s parameters.
Dr Yeo was also not negligent in coming to the view that her prognosis was poor, nor was he negligent in only inserting an EVD without treating the blood clot, said Justice Tan.
He granted NUH’s counterclaim for Mdm Goh’s family to pay hospital bills of S$397,500 and any further bills since Jul 26, 2019.
BACKGROUND OF CASE
Mdm Goh had gone to the hospital for an operation to remove a tumour in her brain on Jun 2, 2014.
After the surgery performed by Dr Yeo, Mdm Goh suffered post-operative bleeding in the brain.
A team of senior neurosurgeons found that the bleeding involved the brainstem, and chose not to try and clear the blood clot due to the high risk of mortality.
The lawyers for Mdm Goh’s family argued that NUH had not monitored her condition diligently enough, with Dr Yeo failing to diagnose the blood clot correctly.
“If Dr Yeo had evacuated the extra-axial haematoma earlier, it is very likely that Mdm Goh would not be in a permanent vegetative state today,” said the lawyers in their closing arguments for the trial.
“If the nurse had not missed out on a reading, the doctors on duty may not have been late in ordering a scan. If the doctors had not been delayed in their ordering of a CT scan, the doctor interpreting the scan may not have seen an ambiguous picture that portended such a grim prognosis to him,” they said.
“If the doctor had taken steps to obtain a firmer diagnosis, he may not have made the decision to withhold aggressive treatment of the patient on that day.
“If not all of the above, Mdm Goh may have walked out of NUH in June 2014.”
Mdm Goh three days before surgery. (Photo: Mdm Goh’s family)
In contrast, lawyers for NUH maintained in their arguments that the surgical team’s assessment of the nature of the bleeding post-surgery was “entirely reasonable”, and a decision to urgently insert an EVD was “justifiable and correct”.
“As he had been trained and was well qualified to do as an experienced neurosurgeon, Prof Yeo reviewed the available CT scan images and made the decision to insert an EVD to relieve the pressure that was building up in Mdm Goh’s brain,” said the lawyers.
They added that “this saved Mdm Goh’s life”.
“As healthcare professionals who always want the best for their patients, NUH and its staff are saddened that Mdm Goh suffered a poor outcome following major brain surgery,” said the hospital’s lawyers.
The judge said he empathises with the frustration and disappointment of Mdm Goh’s family, and said Mdm Ong and her family’s world was turned upside down after a successful operation.
“This is tragic and it is understandable that the plaintiff’s family finds it tremendously difficult to accept the dreadful outcome,” he said. “But justice must be meted out according to the rule of law and not the feelings of the heart in order to reach a fair outcome based on the merits and facts of the case.
“I would like to convey my heartfelt sympathy to the plaintiff and her family. I hope, one day, a miracle will wake up the plaintiff from her deep slumber,” he said.
FAMILY STANDS BY DECISION TO SUE
The family said in a statement after the hearing that they were disappointed by the court’s ruling, but stand by their decision to take the matter to court.
“We did this to create awareness because we did not want any other family to go through what we have gone through the past five years,” they said through their lawyers.
“Our mother was the pillar of our family. She went to NUH in 2014 for an elective surgery to remove a brain tumour. It pains us that till today, she is in a persistent vegetative state and dependent on life support.”
They said they were grateful for the support and concern that they have received from well-wishers, as well as to the team of doctors and lawyers who stepped forward to help them.
The family will wait for a written judgment before discussing with their lawyers whether to appeal.
JAKARTA – A self-proclaimed healer is under fire for claiming in a video that has gone viral on social media that rape victims were to blame for their own sexual assault.
Ironically, the video was posted on Monday (Nov 25), the same day the United Nations kicked off its annual 16-day campaign against gender-based violence, which this year is themed Generation Equality Stands Against Rape to highlights the need to end rape culture around the world.
Stand-up comedian Popon Kerok uploaded a video on his Twitter account, @poponkerok, showing self-proclaimed healer Ningsih Tinampi claiming that rapists should not be punished.
Ms Ningsih has made a name for herself by publishing videos on YouTube of her healing victims of santet (black magic) and performing exorcisms on people allegedly possessed by evil spirits. Her channel has 1.72 million subscribers.
The one-minute clip was part of a longer video showing Ms Ningsih talking to a genderuwo (supernatural creature in Javanese folklore) that had purportedly possessed a female patient.
An enforcement officer from the National Environment Agency (NEA) was terminated after he was caught on video vaping just after issuing a summons to a man for smoking illegally.
Responding to queries from The New Paper, an NEA spokesman said the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has also taken enforcement action against the officer under the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act.
“The NEA is aware of an online video which shows an outsourced NEA enforcement officer using an electronic vaporiser,” she said.
“We investigated the incident immediately and confirmed that the outsourced enforcement officer had indeed used an electronic vaporiser.
“On NEA’s instruction, the service provider has removed the officer from our contract.”
The enforcement officer had caught a man smoking illegally in Golden Mile Tower, Beach Road, at about 5pm on Nov 16.
He attempted to issue a summons to the man, who was not cooperative, and the police were called in to provide assistance.
SINGAPORE – The Court of Appeal has ordered the High Court to redetermine an award of more than $1.2 million to a widow who sued a medical lab and its medical director for failing to detect cancer in her husband’s skin sample.
The five-judge court allowed the appeal of Carol Ann Armstrong, 53, that the medical negligence caused her husband, Peter Traynor, to lose his full life expectancy instead of the four years held in the judgment of the High Court last year.
The Court of Appeal affirmed the High Court’s finding that Quest Laboratories and its director, Dr Tan Hong Wui, had failed to spot the skin cancer in a skin sample from Mr Traynor in 2009. Mr Traynor, a Singapore-based information technology specialist, died in 2013 at the age of 49. The Canadian couple have two daughters aged 10 and 12.
Judge of Appeal Andrew Phang in decision grounds on Tuesday (Nov 26) said: “It is difficult to understate the significance of the Respondents’ breach… lives depend upon accurate diagnoses by pathologists, and diagnoses had therefore to be undertaken with due diligence.”
Her flat was burning, but all the elderly woman could think of was salvaging bags of used items from the rented unit.
The blaze, which destroyed the third-storey flat at Block 8 French Road in Lavender, broke out at about 8am yesterday (Nov 26).
No one was injured.
Chinese-language newspaper Shin Min Daily News reported that the woman, identified only as Madam Tan, 78, had accidentally knocked down a candle on a prayer altar.
As the flat was filled with junk, the flames spread quickly, it reported.
A neighbour, Ms Erni Safian, 48, told The New Paper that Madam Tan refused to evacuate. The retail assistant said: “My daughter asked her to come out, but she took out her things one by one. I was scared for her life. The smoke was getting so black and thick, but all she could care about were her things.”
Ms Shakina Jamil, 30, also tried to get Madam Tan out to no avail. It was not until her mother went into the burning flat that she agreed to leave.
The aviation officer said: “Auntie was crying but told me to carry her things out. I told her she had to evacuate quickly.”
SINGAPORE – Withholding the original Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) results slip due to school fees arrears is a “longstanding practice”, the Education Ministry (MOE) said on Tuesday evening (Nov 26).
The ministry was responding to a Facebook post by career counsellor and activist Gilbert Goh which has been circulating online.
Mr Goh had said on Monday that he came across a parent whose daughter received a photocopy of her PSLE results but not the original slip. Due to financial reasons, the family had not paid $156 in school fees.
PSLE results were released last week.
In response to queries, the MOE said: “In the case highlighted by the Facebook posts, the parents did not pay miscellaneous fees for two years despite several reminders, and did not put in any application for MOE or school-based financial assistance which would have covered all the costs.
“The child will still receive a copy of the results, just not the original results slip, and she can still apply for secondary schools and will progress like all students.”
The number of impersonation scams on Facebook in the first nine months of this year, compared with the same period last year, has almost doubled.
The police said this in a statement on Wed (26 Nov), with 45 cases between January and September, compared with 24 cases in the same period last year.
Victims this year have lost at least $1.2 million so far. This is more than the $740,000 victims lost in the first nine months of last year.
The police added that victims tend to be those aged 60 and above.
In many of the cases, the victims were contacted by scammers through compromised Facebook accounts belonging to their family and friends and were introduced to various types of grants.
Victims were asked to provide their personal details and transfer money to bank accounts or remit funds overseas to receive the grant.
The police said seniors might be more vulnerable to such scams.
Trusting
They said: “Likely because (seniors) are not aware that Facebook accounts could be hacked or spoofed, and that they tend to be more trusting.
