Doctor Pleads For Light Punishment Over Manslaughter

The defence lawyer for a doctor found guilty of manslaughter over a fatal beauty treatment blunder eight years ago asked for a lenient sentence on Wednesday for her "terrible error of judgement."

A High Court jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict on Tuesday night against 39-year-old Mak Wan-ling after around seven hours of deliberation.

The court heard that Mak had administered CIK therapy – which involves the extraction and treatment of a patient’s own blood before it is re-injected – on Chan Yuen-lam, 46, at the DR Beauty clinic on October 3, 2012.

Chan fell seriously ill and was subsequently diagnosed with septic shock. She died of multiple organ failure about a week later.

Tests revealed Chan's blood was contaminated with high levels of bacteria.

In mitigation, Mak’s lawyer said the character references submitted to court described the defendant as a diligent and caring person.

He added that Mak suffers from stomach problems and depression, and has a four-year-old daughter who has special educational needs.

The lawyer asked the court to consider the defendant's "misguided loyalty to the employer and excessive amount of trust she placed in other people", and the fact that she was "relatively inexperienced as a practising doctor."

He added that the procedure was carried out in a beauty centre, where there was "surprisingly low regulatory control."

Judge Judianna Barnes, meanwhile, said while the "main villain" of this case was DR Group founder Stephen Chow, the defendant had failed to protect her customer as she didn't check if the blood was contaminated.

Chow and lab technician Billy Chan were convicted of manslaughter, and jailed for 12 and 10 years respectively in 2017 after a 100-day-trial. But the jury at the time failed to reach a majority verdict on Mak, and a retrial was ordered the following year.

The judge noted that this was a "very unusual case", and said she would consider a reduced sentence for Mak after taking into account her co-operative manner, the retrial, as well as the pressure the defendant had to go through.

Mak is due to be sentenced on December 8.