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SINGAPORE - Although she felt she had been wrongly convicted by the Singapore Medical Council, Dr Georgia Lee decided to appeal against the cost but not the verdict itself.
"It was a difficult decision, one that I struggled with," she told The Straits Times yesterday. "I had always maintained that I should not have been found guilty."
But Dr Lee feared that appealing against the verdict would mean more months awaiting the outcome. And because she had only been fined - the maximum $10,000 - and not suspended from practice, she felt that she should just put the conviction behind her and focus on her practice.
She knew fellow aesthetic doctor Low Chai Ling was appealing against her guilty verdict for performing similar procedures. "My lawyer asked me how I would feel if Dr Low should succeed in her appeal against the conviction but I did not appeal, and I told her that I would be very happy for
Dr Low," she said. "In a sense, it would have been a 'moral victory' for me."
But yesterday, Dr Lee's appeal was changed to include the guilty verdict, which was then set aside by the Court of Appeal.
She said that although she had been under a lot of stress since 2008, when she was told of the disciplinary hearing against her, she kept her spirits up with support from her family, friends and patients.
Her lawyer Kuah Boon Theng said Dr Lee plans to donate the $10,000 fine - which will be returned to her - to support the work of the Law Society's Pro Bono Services Office.
salma@sph.com.sg
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