Some of us will turn to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) when we encounter shoulder pains because they have always been advertised to be able to treat such muscle aches.

However, for this 54-year-old woman otherwise known as Ms Tan, she went to the TCM in hopes of relieving her shoulder pain only to get three-degree burns on her shoulders instead. 

According to Channel NewsAsia, Ms Tan sought Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treatment at Raffles Chinese Medicine, a unit of Raffles Medical Group. After receiving four or five acupuncture sessions with no improvement to her condition, her physician, Jin Jinhua, suggested a treatment called moxibustion in April.  

“It was very hot, and I was in pain”

Moxibuston involves the burning of a spongy herb called mugwort on or near the skin. A mildly heated container will be strapped to the arm and heat-generating bulbs will be focused towards her left arm to try and ‘relieve’ the pain on the shoulders. 

However, things started to go awry during the treatment. Ms Jin left the room after setting up the treatment, leaving Ms Tan alone in the room for about fifteen minutes. 

“It was very hot, and I was in pain. I tried to flip the container off but because of the position I was in, I couldn’t. And there was a rattling sound so I was afraid I might accidentally cause the place to catch fire.” 

When Ms Jin returned, she appeared alarmed that blisters had formed on Ms Tan’s arm. She then used an acupuncture needle to break the blisters and bandaged it afterwards, assuring Ms Tan that the blisters would heal in a few days’s time.

Just that it never did.

The blisters became to get even more swollen when Ms Tan got home, to the point that the pain was unbearable. Ms Tan had to seek medical treatments for her blisters, only to which was she informed that she had suffered third-degree burns. Ms Tan has since spent more than S$4,000 on treatment. 

Ms Tan was first offered S$14,400 in compensation by Raffles Chinese Medicine when she approached the clinic last year. However, she decided to engage a lawyer Raj Singh Shergill in October after reading that he has dealt with a similar case before.

Ms Tan has since accepted S$50,000 through private settlement in costs, expenses and damages suffered on 19 May this year. 

Physician had bad records prior to this incident

Unfortunately, the physician, Jin JinHua has had bad records prior to this incident as well. In 2015, Ms Jin had been fined and censured by the TCM Practitioners Board in 2015 for having acted improperly, negligently and beyond her permitted area of expertise.

She has since left Raffles Chinese Medicine after this incident. 

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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

Featured Image: taoinstitute.com & channelnewsasia.com

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