No action yet on Bangkok hospital’s handling of burn victim
The Department of Health Service Support on Wednesday affirmed that no one at a Bangkok private hospital had yet been punished over a November 9 incident in which a woman burned by acid was allegedly denied treatment, only to die in a taxi on her way to another hospital.
Arkhom Praditsuwan
Arkhom Praditsuwan, director of the department’s Bureau of Sanatorium and Art of Healing, dismissed a report that it had already taken action against Praram 2 Hospital.
He said officials would soon consult experts from the Thai College of Emergency Physicians, the National Institute for Emergency Medicine and the Medical Council of Thailand in a bid to determine whether staff at Praram 2 had met emergency-medicine standards.
The evidence gathered and expert opinions would be forwarded to a medical ethics sub-committee to decide if any punishment is warranted and, if so, what it should be, Arkhom said.
“This department, as the law-upholding authority, must ensure justice for both sides, so we have to be thorough in our investigation,” he said. “We can’t just make a decision under pressure from society. We must consider all the evidence and facts.”
