Disclosing medical test results to patients: MOH replies

19 Nov 2013, Straits Times

Let doctors break blood test results to patients

I AM eight months pregnant and went to see my obstetrician earlier this month, as I had developed a rash, felt severely fatigued and had excruciating joint pain.

I was referred to an infectious disease specialist, who took blood samples from me to conduct certain tests, including one for chikungunya.

I was told it would take several days to get the results as the blood would be sent to a Ministry of Health lab for testing.

Four days later, I received a call from a ministry official, who told me I had tested positive for chikungunya. He then launched into a series of questions on where I lived and which areas of Singapore I had visited.

It was obvious that he was filling in a questionnaire.

After about two minutes, I had enough and told him I wanted to speak to my doctor and family before answering his questions.

I was unhappy that he had given me my blood test results instead of leaving it to my doctor, and bombarded me with questions before I had time to digest the news and figure out what to do next.

When I complained to his supervisor, I was given an apology and the excuse that they had "many work" that day.

My doctor said she had heard of ministry data collection officers calling patients and breaking the news that they have HIV to them, or calling doctors to obtain information for their questionnaires if they could not get hold of the patients.

Clear procedures need to be put in place and followed to ensure that doctors, not ministry officers, are the ones to tell patients the results of their blood tests.

Nadia Taylor (Mrs)

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MOH’s Reply

26 Nov 2013, Straits Times

Disclosing medical test results to patients: MOH replies

MRS NADIA Taylor commented that patients should be informed of their medical test results by their doctors ("Let doctors break blood test results to patients"; last Tuesday).

As a standard procedure in our public health investigations, Ministry of Health officers will contact patients only after they have been apprised by their doctors beforehand of their diagnoses.

This is strictly adhered to as far as possible. However, this has to be balanced with public health considerations.

The public health urgency in certain situations may require us to contact patients as soon as possible, in order to carry out disease control measures expediently.

Mrs Taylor was contacted on Nov 8 as part of public health investigations under the Infectious Diseases Act, to facilitate the implementation of measures to control the spread of chikungunya.

In such situations, we seek and greatly appreciate the patience, understanding and cooperation of patients and their doctors in expediting our public health investigations, including taking the time to answer pertinent questions that may be perceived as intrusive.

We assure them that the confidentiality of all information shared is protected under the Act.

We thank Mrs Taylor for her feedback, which is useful in our ongoing review of processes to better ensure that patients are informed of their diagnoses by their doctors prior to any contact we make for public health investigations.

Philip Sim
Deputy Director, Corporate Communications
Ministry of Health