Lee Wei Ling: A prominent neurologist who didn’t shy away from speaking out

MEDICAL CAREER

Dr Lee was a paediatric neurologist, specialising in epilepsy, and was director of the National Neuroscience Institute ( NNI).

She wrote on Twitter in 2020 that she chose to focus on paediatrics because she had first wanted to study veterinary medicine but my parents dissuaded her.

Dr. Lee resigned from a job investigating Parkinson’s disease and other problems in 2003 after being implicated in a medical ethics incident at the NNI. According to a Now record in 2003, Dr Lee quit after she got  uncomfortable with the research’s social ramifications.

After being found guilty of recruiting people and altering their drugs without their acceptance or the help of their psychiatrists, NNI director Simon Shorvon was fired.

Dr. Lee assumed the post of Professor Shorvon at NNI from 2004 until 2014.

Penning a gift on Facebook, Dr Lee’s nephew, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, wrote: “She brought to medicine the same strength and determination she did to all, and developed close ties with her clients, many of whom she treated over many years. ”

“She was also the physician in the household, whom we would usually discuss when a medical problem arose, big or small, ” Mr Lee wrote.

“ When I had cancer, she took a close attention in my care and development. One of her nephews had a stomach ache at our regular household breakfast in Oxley Road one day. She did a quick examination, suspected pancreatitis, and sent him to be properly examined. She turned out to be straight. ”

OXLEY ROAD SAGA

Dr. Lee was renowned for her openness to speak out about issues affecting her own home. She and her sons were at odds with the death of their family home in Oxley Road in people.

Dr. Lee and Mr. Lee Hsien Yang claimed that they were threatened by their later father’s desire to destroy the home. Additionally, they charged Mr. Lee Hsien Loong with using his power to influence others to advance his specific goals.

Mr Lee Hsien Loong denied their complaints. Since April 2015, he had recused himself from all state matters involving the house to prevent any conflicts of interest.

DIAGNOSIS AND DECLINE

When Dr. Lee announced her state in 2020, she adopted a similar tone. She frequently used a stoic attitude toward life in her works.

I received the news as soon as possible, as the traditional Chinese character has a blade above a heart, or experience. I have been practicing “忍 ” since I was in Chinese school, recognising that life has many unpleasant, unavoidable situations, ” she wrote in a Facebook post.

She also shared about how her issue affected her actions, which “are slow and anxious ” and how she had trouble “getting up from my futon”.

Her most recent Twitter post was posted on September 3, 2020, in which she described how she lost her right knee in Fort Canning Park.

In a 2015 paragraph in The Straits Times, Dr. Lee pondered age and her own declining bodily strength and endurance.

She wrote: “ I have stared ancient time in the face and, ultimately, accepted the necessity of physical drop, which will continue until I die… However, I will only accept the decline as inevitable when it becomes clear that, despite my best efforts, I ca n’t keep my youthful physical and mental state.

“ I am exceptionally determined ( or stubborn ), and I do n’t give up easily. But, I see a long fight back. ”