Sponge-bob
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- Jul 16, 2013
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My first pregnancy in 2019, went to see Dr Tan Toh Lick at his Thomson Clinic @ Jurong East Mall (JEM). Everything was ok until week 10, well, except for inexperienced nurses who couldn’t even draw blood properly, but really this is minor compared to what I experienced later on.
Then come week 10 onwards, things started to go downhill in the following chronological events:
Week 10: So we signed up for NIPT test, mainly to know baby gender earlier, wasn’t that worried of down-syndrome as I was 27yo back then. Paid $1.2k. They drew my blood. Two weeks later, they called me and said first blood draw didn’t yield any result, not enough DNA extracted.
Week 12: Went back to clinic, drew blood for the second time. When we paid for the test, they told us that if first draw was not successful, we could draw another blood for free. Unfortunately, stars were not aligned for us, second blood draw didn’t yield any result as well.
Week 13: I was in office, I got a call from nurse telling me that again “there wasn’t any result of second blood draw. I had to go see the gynae immediately because “the baby may have some complex genetic issue””.
Now, This Is The Start Of The Whole Problem.
To reiterate, I was in office, how does one have a heart to deliver such negative news to a pregnant mum, stressing the mum so much and rushing the mum to go see gynae immediately? I asked: What will I do if I go down? Can we just speak on the phone first to talk about the next action? Nurse said: Doctor asked to do Nuchal Translucency (NT) Scan today itself and do Amnio Test at week 16. Minutes later, Dr. Tan himself called me and mentioned some sophisticated genetic issues that I have no idea what was the meaning at all.
I ended the call and my thought goes like this: My pregnancy was all ok, NT scan is known to have False Positive (FP) and when people get FP for NT scan, they then go and do NIPT test. For me, I have already done NIPT, what would I expect from NT scan? Is my baby really abnormal or is the doctor scaring me to death to earn more money?
According to my friend who is also a doctor: Unless there’s a strong justification, do not ever do Amnio test, because the risk of water bag leaking is high and what’s the point of disturbing the growing baby just to find out about the DNA problem? (if indeed there’s any). So I never returned his call, never appeared at the clinic, went home do more research.
I decided to not do anymore action after I researched, asked around experienced mummy and gathered the followings:
Week 15: Went back to see Dr. Tan for the last time as I was finishing my package. To my Surprise: He Made Us Sat Down for 15 minutes to Brainwash us to take all kinds of test to find out the issue with the baby DNA, including Amnio Test. (WTH!) He even questioned me for not going to see him the day I received call from the nurse. I told him it is my decision to not do anymore test. He wasn’t satisfied with it and went on and on about all other tests that we have to do. He called up the nurse to bring in the brochure to calculate the total cost for us. To respect him, we listened. Guess how much he quoted? Asked us to take the most premium tests, quoted us a total of $5K for the tests including Amnio. I repeat, Five Thousands Singapore Dollar! (I have the image of the form). Do we look like we print money?? Because we’re just a commoner and how can he be so heartless to brainwash us that something’s wrong with our baby and we have to pay $5K for those tests. After all, I’m still the one pregnant. He even said my time is limited just in case... (he meant just in case, we need to abort the BB, yikes). He did mention that I only have until Week 24 to make a decision.
After we rejected all the above, towards the end, he asked if we still want to consider doing NIPT by a different company or not, and the fee will be cheaper. I went jawdropped, couldn’t believe that he treated his clinic like market trying to upsell many different things just to earn money.
To backtrack a little bit, I suddenly recalled at Week 6, I got some bleeding in my wound, his words were already not positive, saying its not a good sign etc (may have miscarriage). Why would a doctor say such a thing??
Another thing he keeps selling to us: Duphaston. With other more experienced and senior gynaes, Duphaston is only to be taken until Week 12 before placenta was formed up, to strengthen the pregnancy hormone. He keeps selling us Duphaston until Week 16!!!
Week 18 onwards: Went to see another gynae. Though he said that he would have recommended a few other tests for my situation, it is up to us to make a decision. He did his job as a gynae and checked whether physically, the baby has any down syndrome indication from ultrasound. He checked and said baby seems ok, but wait till week 20 for detailed test. He did mention also that if patients were to do NIPT at his clinic and no result was drawn, money will be refunded except $200 for the blood draw fee. I got mad at Dr. Tan when I heard that because he never told us about the refund at all.
After Week 18: I went back to Dr. Tan to ask about having fair treatment regarding NIPT result and requested for refund. He got really rude and said no refund even though no result was given, and he added that I wasted his time for this discussion. (Excuse me?? Anything that don’t earn you money is wasting your time??) I requested him send an email to NIPT company with me cc-ed in the email and he said it’s not possible at all. (Of course, trying to cover up) No refund gotten in the end. But I have told myself to share about my horrible experience with other mummies.
Now fast forward 2 years later. I delivered my first kid and everything was alright. She’s grown up to be a smart and cheerful toddler. I even gave birth to my second one smoothly. Had I listened and followed everything that Dr. Tan said, I think we would have been in a very different state now, not sure if we would be better off. Most importantly, listen to your heart.
Then come week 10 onwards, things started to go downhill in the following chronological events:
Week 10: So we signed up for NIPT test, mainly to know baby gender earlier, wasn’t that worried of down-syndrome as I was 27yo back then. Paid $1.2k. They drew my blood. Two weeks later, they called me and said first blood draw didn’t yield any result, not enough DNA extracted.
Week 12: Went back to clinic, drew blood for the second time. When we paid for the test, they told us that if first draw was not successful, we could draw another blood for free. Unfortunately, stars were not aligned for us, second blood draw didn’t yield any result as well.
Week 13: I was in office, I got a call from nurse telling me that again “there wasn’t any result of second blood draw. I had to go see the gynae immediately because “the baby may have some complex genetic issue””.
Now, This Is The Start Of The Whole Problem.
To reiterate, I was in office, how does one have a heart to deliver such negative news to a pregnant mum, stressing the mum so much and rushing the mum to go see gynae immediately? I asked: What will I do if I go down? Can we just speak on the phone first to talk about the next action? Nurse said: Doctor asked to do Nuchal Translucency (NT) Scan today itself and do Amnio Test at week 16. Minutes later, Dr. Tan himself called me and mentioned some sophisticated genetic issues that I have no idea what was the meaning at all.
I ended the call and my thought goes like this: My pregnancy was all ok, NT scan is known to have False Positive (FP) and when people get FP for NT scan, they then go and do NIPT test. For me, I have already done NIPT, what would I expect from NT scan? Is my baby really abnormal or is the doctor scaring me to death to earn more money?
According to my friend who is also a doctor: Unless there’s a strong justification, do not ever do Amnio test, because the risk of water bag leaking is high and what’s the point of disturbing the growing baby just to find out about the DNA problem? (if indeed there’s any). So I never returned his call, never appeared at the clinic, went home do more research.
I decided to not do anymore action after I researched, asked around experienced mummy and gathered the followings:
- Abnormalities in baby can be seen during detailed scan at Week 20, but even if baby has complex DNA issue and is abnormal, it would have been hard for the baby to survive the womb.
- According to Google search, those complex chromosomal issue mentioned by Dr. Tan only happened in ratio of 1:10,000 or 1: 22,000 or 1:32,000. Seriously?? But I’m still worried
- If we discontinue pregnancy just because of an inconclusive test result, what will we do if we face the same thing at second or third pregnancy?
Week 15: Went back to see Dr. Tan for the last time as I was finishing my package. To my Surprise: He Made Us Sat Down for 15 minutes to Brainwash us to take all kinds of test to find out the issue with the baby DNA, including Amnio Test. (WTH!) He even questioned me for not going to see him the day I received call from the nurse. I told him it is my decision to not do anymore test. He wasn’t satisfied with it and went on and on about all other tests that we have to do. He called up the nurse to bring in the brochure to calculate the total cost for us. To respect him, we listened. Guess how much he quoted? Asked us to take the most premium tests, quoted us a total of $5K for the tests including Amnio. I repeat, Five Thousands Singapore Dollar! (I have the image of the form). Do we look like we print money?? Because we’re just a commoner and how can he be so heartless to brainwash us that something’s wrong with our baby and we have to pay $5K for those tests. After all, I’m still the one pregnant. He even said my time is limited just in case... (he meant just in case, we need to abort the BB, yikes). He did mention that I only have until Week 24 to make a decision.
After we rejected all the above, towards the end, he asked if we still want to consider doing NIPT by a different company or not, and the fee will be cheaper. I went jawdropped, couldn’t believe that he treated his clinic like market trying to upsell many different things just to earn money.
To backtrack a little bit, I suddenly recalled at Week 6, I got some bleeding in my wound, his words were already not positive, saying its not a good sign etc (may have miscarriage). Why would a doctor say such a thing??
Another thing he keeps selling to us: Duphaston. With other more experienced and senior gynaes, Duphaston is only to be taken until Week 12 before placenta was formed up, to strengthen the pregnancy hormone. He keeps selling us Duphaston until Week 16!!!
Week 18 onwards: Went to see another gynae. Though he said that he would have recommended a few other tests for my situation, it is up to us to make a decision. He did his job as a gynae and checked whether physically, the baby has any down syndrome indication from ultrasound. He checked and said baby seems ok, but wait till week 20 for detailed test. He did mention also that if patients were to do NIPT at his clinic and no result was drawn, money will be refunded except $200 for the blood draw fee. I got mad at Dr. Tan when I heard that because he never told us about the refund at all.
After Week 18: I went back to Dr. Tan to ask about having fair treatment regarding NIPT result and requested for refund. He got really rude and said no refund even though no result was given, and he added that I wasted his time for this discussion. (Excuse me?? Anything that don’t earn you money is wasting your time??) I requested him send an email to NIPT company with me cc-ed in the email and he said it’s not possible at all. (Of course, trying to cover up) No refund gotten in the end. But I have told myself to share about my horrible experience with other mummies.
Now fast forward 2 years later. I delivered my first kid and everything was alright. She’s grown up to be a smart and cheerful toddler. I even gave birth to my second one smoothly. Had I listened and followed everything that Dr. Tan said, I think we would have been in a very different state now, not sure if we would be better off. Most importantly, listen to your heart.