Wednesday, February 10, 2010

November 19, 2009 20:04 PM

UK Man Fails To Sue Doctors For Negligence

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 (Bernama) -- A civil engineer from the United Kingdom (UK), whose wife died following a liposuction procedure five years ago, failed in his action to sue the two medical specialists involved, after the High Court here Thursday dismissed his negligence suit with costs.

Judicial Commissioner Harminder Singh Dhaliwal in his oral decision dismissed the suit after finding that the plaintiff, Matthew Scott Oakley Abdullah, 39, had failed to prove medical negligence on the balance of probability.

Harminder also ordered Oakley to pay the excess cost of RM20,000 each to plastic surgeon Dr George Varughese, proprietor of a clinic in Bangsar here and freelance anesthetist, Dr R. Raja Kumar.

In his suit filed on June 10, 2006, Oakley, among others, had claimed that the two doctors had failed to use reasonable care and skill in monitoring and assessing the condition of his wife, Nik Rosemawati Nik Mohamed, 43, who had undergone the procedure on July 21, 2004.

He claimed that his wife died as a result of the alleged negligence by the doctors.

In the suit, Oakley sought RM520,431 in general and special damages, apart from interest, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court.

In his statement of claim, Oakley said the post-mortem report revealed that his wife had suffered extensive internal bleeding and the cause of death was stated as "Acute Intra-abdominal Injury (Perioperative Death)".

In their statements of defence, Dr Varughese and Dr Raja denied that they were negligent.

Dr Varughese argued that at all times, he had acted with the skill and diligence expected of a medical practitioner, while Dr Raja claimed that the injury suffered by the deceased was due to the abdominal liposuction carried out by Dr Varughese and did not have any connection to the anesthetic given by him.

In his oral judgment, Harminder said it was for the plaintiff to prove that the defendants were negligent, and whether the negligence was the cause of death of the deceased.

"Medical treatment is not an exact science, even a human body has many mysteries. Only a very cut clear case such as a swab left in the abdomen can be directly pointed as negligent.

"Even if the injuries were caused by the defendants, it is not necessarily that they were negligent. My assessment is that the death of the deceased was not because of negligence on anyone's part. I find the plaintiff has failed on a balance of probability to prove negligence," he said.

Oakley was represented by counsel Renu Zechariah while counsel Darryl Goon acted for Dr George and counsel Suria Kumar for Dr Raja.

-- BERNAMA

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