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Fiona Sun

An obstetrician to the stars has been cleared of professional misconduct by Hong Kong’s medical watchdog over allegations she failed to properly record why she administered a labour-inducing drug to a patient who said the procedure left her traumatised.
Dr Liang Shuk-tak, who reportedly had delivered babies for actresses Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia and Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi, and Olympic diving champion Guo Jingjing, was accused of failing to “properly document” the fetal head position, maternal pelvis shape or size, and the reason for administering Syntocinon to the patient in the medical records in 2017.
Syntocinon is a synthetic form of oxytocin, a natural hormone that stimulates uterine contractions in childbirth.
Following a full-day disciplinary hearing on Wednesday, Medical Council inquiry panel chairman Professor Fok Tai-fai announced that Liang was acquitted of the charge.
He said the panel accepted there was no concern about the adequacy of the patient’s pelvis shape or size for it to be recorded, while the defendant’s clinical management was up to standard and a good outcome was achieved for the patient and her baby.
“Both experts told us that it was not the best practice for not recording the reason for the giving of Syntocinon in the defendant’s progress notes,” he said.
“However, both experts agreed that it would not be serious enough to warrant lodging a complaint to the council for misconduct. We accept what both experts told us.”
Speaking to the media after the verdict, complainant Ma Kwai-lin said: “What I said was all truth.” She did not elaborate.

Ma was 37 weeks and five days pregnant when she was admitted to the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital in Happy Valley on February 15, 2017.
She alleged at the inquiry hearing that the obstetrician asked her to undergo epidural analgesia or be given Syntocinon because she “had to leave by 4.30pm”.
Ma said she preferred a natural birth.
Ma also claimed that Liang instructed a nurse to perform an artificial rupture of membranes without examining her first or explaining why.
Syntocinon was given to Ma intravenously from around 2.50pm, and the daughter was delivered at around 3.30pm.
At the hearing, Ma said the experience traumatised her, causing nightmares. “This incident hurt me too much. I need to seek justice for myself,” Ma said.
But Liang denied the allegation that she used Syntocinon because she needed to attend to other matters later that day.
Liang said she administered Syntocinon due to the patient’s slow labour progress, adding that she had discussed the option with the midwife, who then talked to Ma about using the drug.
Liang said the patient’s labour progress improved after Syntocinon was given.
She added that she expected the midwife to record the reason for its use, admitted she herself did not write it down, and acknowledged that it was her duty to do so.
Liang qualified as a doctor in 1975.


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Dr Liang Shuk-tak was accused of failing to properly record fetal head position, pelvis shape, and the reason for administering a labour drug in 2017


Dr Liang Shuk-tak was accused of failing to properly record fetal head position, pelvis shape, and the reason for administering a labour drug in 2017.


Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia

Guo Jingjing

Doctor to the stars cleared over failure to record reason for using labour drug

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Dr Liang Shuk-tak was accused of failing to properly record fetal head position, pelvis shape, and the reason for administering a labour drug in 2017

Dr Liang Shuk-tak was accused of failing to properly record fetal head position, pelvis shape, and the reason for administering a labour drug in 2017