Man to face defamation charge on article that had falsehoods about KKH
An article published in March 2022 claimed that a pregnant woman lost her baby after waiting at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) for four hours to be treated for Covid-19 and abdominal pains.
But an investigation into the article, which was published by alternative news site Wake Up, Singapore (WUSG) on its website, Instagram and Facebook, found the claims to be false.
A 26-year-old man is expected to be charged on April 24 with defamation for his involvement in the publication of the article “which propagated a false story of a miscarriage” at KKH, the police said in a release on April 23.
On March 25, 2022, KKH lodged a police report over the article titled The Baby Is Probably Dead – Woman Shares A Harrowing Account Of Her Miscarriage At KKH A&E, which had made the rounds on social media.
The Straits Times reported on March 24 that KKH said it could not identify the patient in the article.
It had alleged that KKH’s mismanagement of healthcare services caused a female patient to suffer a miscarriage after a four-hour wait at KKH’s Accident and Emergency Department on Feb 28, 2022.
It reported the woman as saying that she was 20 weeks pregnant at the time and had tested positive for Covid-19. She claimed that she arrived at KKH at 2pm to seek treatment, but she was told to wait at the drop-off area and saw a doctor only at 6pm.
The police said they consulted the Attorney-General’s Chambers after receiving the police report from KKH and were authorised to investigate the matter.
Investigations showed that the man was allegedly the administrator for WUSG’s website, Instagram and Facebook, the police added. Further investigations found that the allegations in the article were false.
In March 2022, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said it has instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act Office to issue a correction direction to WUSG for publishing the false account.
WUSG published the correction notices shortly after MOH’s statement was put out, at 12.24am on March 27, on Facebook and subsequently on Instagram.
MOH said investigations by KKH confirmed that the patient had been seen by a doctor within an hour of her arrival at the hospital in February, and that she did not suffer any miscarriage.
Those found guilty of defamation can be jailed for up to two years, or fined, or both.
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