Page 7 - CUHK MEDICAL ALUMNI Newsletter Issue 2 Vol 6 2017
P. 7

FEATURES
                                                                                                                   06





                                                 STUDY OF LAW SHARPENS

                     OBSTETRICIAN’S SKILLS IN REASONING


                                                     AND CRITICAL THINKING




                                           ”Legal issues tended to crop up in all aspects of
                                            medicine, especially in obstetrics and gynaecology.”

                                                               - Dr Yvonne Cheng Kwun-yue

                                                                               (鄭昆瑜醫生, MBChB 2004)



                                                ”Medicine is the one profession which   Her outlook on life has changed somewhat,
                                                deals with lots of legal or ethical   compared to her much younger days
                                                issues,” she points out. ”It is especially   when she was always looking for ways to
                                                true in obstetrics because you will   keep busy. Nowadays, she does not take
                                                come across many situations that   her work home and tries spending more
                                               require legal and ethical considerations.”  quality time with her child. ”I know now if I
                                                                               don’t strike a work-life balance, I won’t last
                                              She cites an example of the debate   long in the field,” she says.
                                              involving miscarried foetuses which are
                                              less than 24 weeks. ”The dilemma is   Dr Cheng believes CUHK has taught
                                              …should parents be allowed to take it   her to be passionate in whatever she
                                              home to be buried because legally, a   does. ”The Faculty of Medicine’s
                                              foetus is only considered as having ‘life’   motto…Transforming our Passion into
                                              at 24 weeks of gestation,” she explains.   Perfection…tells students to follow their
                                                                               passion and strive for the best.
               or Dr Yvonne Cheng, boredom is a   Dr Cheng also recalls a case where an
            Fword seldom found in her vocabulary.   abnormality was discovered in one of a
            She is always looking for new challenges.   set of twins while in the womb. ”When we
            So it was no surprise when she took   diagnosed the abnormality, it was already
            up law soon after graduating as an   beyond 24 weeks…so legally, we weren’t
            obstetrician.
                                              allowed to terminate the pregnancy.
            ”I was young then,” she recalls. ”I had   However, we were concerned that this
            just graduated. My sister was studying   abnormality could affect the other twin
            law and I thought it was so cool. And I   and the health of the mother.
            wanted the challenge, too.”
                                              ”So in order for the other baby and
            She enrolled in a part-time law course   the mother to have better prospects,
            at University of London and after   we applied to the court for approval to
            juggling for three years between her   terminate the twin with the abnormality.”  ”This is what makes the CUHK medical
            work at the United Christian Hospital                              community very strong and very unique.
            and going for classes in the evenings,   Dr Cheng, who specialises in fetal   That’s why I ended up working for the
            she finally obtained her Bachelor of   medicine, says a lot of critical analyses   Faculty,” she says.
            Laws degree, LLB, in 2008.        are needed in her research work and
                                              her legal background has helped   Dr Cheng is advising students to really
            Dr Cheng, who joined the Prince of   sharpen her skills at reasoning, logic   think about other aspects of medicine
            Wales Hospital in 2011, became a   and critical thinking.          rather than just concentrating on
            clinical assistant professor in 2013.                              medical knowledge.
            She says she is glad she followed her   But she insists she has no plans of
            instincts because she discovered that   becoming a full-time lawyer. ”I am   ”I’m not saying that all medical students
            ”legal issues tended to crop up in   doing clinical work. I’m also teaching   should also study law but medicine has
            all aspects of medicine, especially in   and conducting research - this is the   become more and more challenging,
            obstetrics and gynaecology.”      path for me.”                    with lots of legal issues involved.”
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