Hospital cuai sebabkan kematian
Govt admits hospital negligence for death of retired doctor
KUALA LUMPUR: The government has admitted
liability over the “negligent death” of Dr Suzanne Thomas, 62, a former head of
the Kuala Lumpur hospital outpatients department.
Dr Thomas had sought treatment at her
former hospital for septic arthritis as diagnosed by a private hospital, but
was instead treated for osteoarthritis, the High Court was told.
Senior Federal Counsel Nurhafizza Azizan
said the government was not contesting a suit brought by Dr Thomas’s husband,
Stanley Isaacs.
Manmohan Singh Dhillon, appearing for
Isaacs, read a statement in court saying the death had been avoidable, if not
for the callous and reckless conduct of the defendants.
Dr Thomas died on Christmas day, 2014,
four days after being admitted.
Manmohan Singh said the Kuala Lumpur
hospital medical officer and a defendant had refused to consider the diagnosis
of septic arthritis made at the Tropicana Medical Centre on Dec 20.
He said Dr Thomas had sentimental and
clinical reasons to seek treatment at the government hospital. She was senior
assistant director of the Health Department in the health ministry when she
retired.
He said KL Hospital staff made an
unsubstantiated diagnosis of osteoarthritis, he said, in complete disregard of
the patient’s safety.
Manmohan Singh speculated that their
reason was probably that very little needed to be done over the weekend for a
diagnosis of osteoarthritis compared with a diagnosis of septic arthritis. “The
result was a quiet weekend for the doctors and a sorrowful Christmas for the
family,” he said. Isaacs, a former head of the criminal and civil divisions of
the Attorney-General’s Chambers, will be seeking general and aggravated damages
from the government, Manmohan Singh said.
He said the defendants had raised false
defence, supported by intentional delay and embellished entries made in the
medical reports “to pull wool over the eyes of justice”.
Manmohan said the defendants had enlisted
the support of two-in-house experts to support their case.
The court will assess the quantum of damages after hearing two defence witnesses on May 23.
The court will assess the quantum of damages after hearing two defence witnesses on May 23.
Isaacs filed the suit on May 31, 2016,
and named the government and nine doctors and three staff nurses at KL Hospital
as defendants.
He said his wife was admitted to the
private medical centre after having been diagnosed for septic arthritis and
later went to the government hospital. She was still conscious and able to
state her medical history but her condition worsened and she remained
critically ill.
“She was found to be semi-conscious on
the morning of Dec 21, 2014, after a night of severe headache and vomiting,” he
said in the statement of claim.
She was transferred to the intensive care
unit at 8.50pm on Dec 21 and was intubated and ventilated but her condition
continued to deteriorate and she died on Christmas day.
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