Case Studies
Our case studies contain analysis and discussion points for users to better understand the legal provisions. They also provide suggestions on how to prevent corruption, fraud and malpractices.
Dr Y is a geriatrician of a public hospital. Recently, he joined his friend to invest in an elderly home. He was confident that this was a profitable business as he anticipated that there would be a huge growth of clientele due to the increased subsidy for the elderly care service by the government. However, totally against his expectation, their elderly home faced keen competition. Apart from cutting lodging fees and improving the facilities, they were also trying hard to canvass customers from every possible source. Dr Y himself even made use of the opportunity to promote the elderly home to his patients’ family members. He agreed to give them a big discount if they sent their relatives to his elderly home after discharge from the hospital.
Dr T is a plastic surgeon in private practice. He always goes to a fitness center for exercise and gets to know the proprietor of a beauty parlour, Joanne. On one occasion, Joanne suggested to Dr T a partnership. She could recommend Dr T to her female customers who were perpetually dissatisfied with their looks and sought minor surgery. Dr T agreed to share part of the operation fees with Joanne for each successful referral. He thought that his income would not be seriously affected as he could charge patients higher operation fees.
Dr P, an obstetrician of a renowned private hospital, is in charge of the fertility centre there. Clientele includes wives of tycoons and famous actresses. One day, Dr P received a telephone call from her best friend Amy who was a columnist for a tabloid. She told Dr P that she was writing a feature article on infertility and wanted to know the success rate of her clinic. She even made enquires about a few celebrities rumoured to be infertile and their prognosis. She assured Dr P that she would not disclose the source of information. With the help of Dr P, Amy completed the feature article which eventually aroused much public interest. As a token of thanks, she treated Dr P to a lavish meal in a famous restaurant.
Dr King was responsible for procurement in a big private medical center. Sales representatives of different companies often offer gifts to him. Recently, he was offered a sponsored trip to USA for attending a conference.
Many of Dr Chong’s patients were young people who had developed a dependency on psychotropic drugs. Though he knew that he should not dispense these drugs to them so easily, he liked the easy income and the growing clientele…