Veteran surgeon Franklin Li Wang-pong was subjected to a disciplinary hearing by the Medical Council of Hong Kong after the failure of his judicial review bid at the High Court to stop the council's probe into his conduct.

Lawyers for both sides will make their final submissions on December 20 to the council, which is expected to arrive at a decision before the end of the month.

Li, who qualified as a plastic surgeon in 1956, has denied five counts of professional misconduct. They include failure to keep proper records of the 71-year-old patient's medical history and personal details; his liposuction procedure not being in line with contemporary resuscitation procedures; his not being conversant with guidelines issued by the Hong Kong College of Anesthesiologists; failure to maintain an optimal standard of monitoring the patient's condition when using drugs; and failure to maintain an optimal provision of facilities available for resuscitation.

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At yesterday's hearing, defense counsel Douglas Jones said Li tried his best to revive piano teacher Lam King-fong by cardiopulmonary and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation when she fell unconscious after being given a local anesthetic.

Jones said the patient had not told Li her real age and had also not shown him her identity card even though he had performed 17 operations on her over several years.

Jones said a doctor could not force his patients to show their identity cards if they refused to do so. He also insisted Li and his nurses had been monitoring Lam's condition while she was under local anesthetic.

The prosecution said mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was not the best option and the doctor should have used resuscitation facilities in his clinic instead.

The prosecution also wondered why a surgeon would go ahead with surgery requiring a local anaesthetic if the patient had refused to disclose important information, such as her age.

Lam collapsed while undergoing abdominal liposuction at Li's Tsim Sha Tsui clinic on August 28, 2003. She died despite efforts to revive her.

In February 2006, coroner Peter White ruled Lam's death to be a "misadventure." White had also advised Li to get training in resuscitation and to learn more about using sedatives.

In addition, Li was told to keep full records of his patients, including their ages and other identification and refuse to carry out surgery if patients refused to provide such information.