SINGAPORE: The boy of a 74-year-old lady who died following a cardiac arrest within Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) offers sued the hospital and three of its doctors for S$800, 1000.
The High Court trial that will started on Mon (Aug 15) will appear into whether healthcare negligence contributed to the death of Mdm Tan Yaw Lan.
Her son, the plaintiff Mr Chia Soo Kiang, 47, is symbolized by Mr Clarence Lun and Mister Cheston Ow associated with Fervent Chambers.
His case would be that the defendants’ negligent misdiagnosis and medical treatment triggered Mdm Tan to suffer a serious cardiac arrest on Apr 23, 2018.
Mdm Tan flattened after being showered by a nursing inwendig that day, plus fell into a coma. Her condition deteriorated and she died associated with ischaemic heart disease and pneumonia on May 13, 2018.
Aside from TTSH, Doctor Dorai Raj M Appadorai – the particular on-call consultant whenever Mdm Tan was admitted – plus Dr Lee Wei Sheng and Dr Ranjana Acharya : who reviewed Mdm Tan the morning after she was admitted – are also being sued.
The hospital and its doctors are represented with a team of lawyers from Dentons Rodyk & Davidson brought by Ms Mar Seow Hwei. Their particular case is that Mdm Tan was looked after and advised appropriately at all times.
Mister Chia, a community servant, was the first to take the endure on Monday. He gave evidence on his mother’s prior medical problem and her subsequent collapse and demise.
TREATMENT PLAN HELP BACK HEART MEDICATIONS
Mdm Tan’s past medical conditions included diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, ischaemic heart disease, chronic kidney disease plus anaemia, according to a brief history taken in April 2018.
She created a fever, cough and lethargy plus was admitted in order to TTSH on Apr 20, 2018.
A doctor diagnosed the girl with sepsis complicated by type 2 myocardial infarction and clotting impairment, anaemia and acute persistent kidney disease.
She was put on a treatment plan that will withheld her primary heart medications of aspirin, losartan plus furosemide.
The lawsuit alleged that will Dr Dorai did not advise and obtain Mdm Tan’s informed permission before approving the withdrawal of her primary heart medicines, which elevated the girl risk of struggling a cardiac police arrest.
The “least” Dr Dorai might have done was to inform Mdm Tan’s category of the intended treatment plan, but this was not really done, said the particular plaintiff.
The particular plaintiff also charged Dr Dorai of failing to treat her heart condition properly by ordering or even allowing the withdrawal of aspirin, the blood thinner, from her medications.
According to the defendants, the particular aspirin was help back as it could raise Mdm Tan’s risk of bleeding whenever she suffered from anaemia, while losartan and furosemide were withheld as they could worsen the injury to the girl kidneys.
As part of the treatment, Mdm Suntan was also put on remedies and a type of subcutaneous soluble insulin that might be administered in response to the girl blood glucose level, replacing her usual oral insulin.
The particular morning after the girl admission, house officer Dr Lee examined Mdm Tan throughout his ward models. She appeared notify and comfortable in bed, according to the defendants.
Dr Lee continuing the treatment plan that withheld her primary center medications and mouth insulin. Dr Ranjana, an internal medicine expert who examined Mdm Tan later that morning, also agreed with this clinical choice.
The plaintiff claimed that Dr Lee failed to properly treat Mdm Tan’s diabetes by withdrawing her oral insulin, putting her in danger of complications or infection.
“As a result of (Dr Dorai and Dr Lee’s) breaches, there was a total failure to prevent the deceased’s heart attack despite the various obvious risk elements, ” said the particular plaintiff.
NOT REALLY REFERRED TO CARDIOLOGIST
On Apr 21, 2018, Dr Ranjana also held away from Dr Lee’s prepared referral of Mdm Tan to the cardiology department as the lady felt it was “not clinically indicated”, mentioned the defendants.
The plaintiff claimed that Dr Ranjana breached her responsibility of care in order to Mdm Tan by failing to direct her to the suitable heart specialists.
Mdm Tan has been wrongly diagnosed with type two myocardial infarction, said the individual, and the cancellation associated with her referral to some cardiologist deprived the girl of detection and life-saving treatment on her heart condition.
The plaintiff also took issue with the particular medical team’s choice not to refer Mdm Tan to the extensive care unit or high dependency ward.
The defendants argued that she did not meet the signals for admission, which such resources should be used judiciously.
SHOWERED PATIENT AGAINST FAMILY’S WISHES
Mdm Tan continued to be in hospital within the next two days. Upon Apr 23, 2018, her vital signals were stable and she was “alert, comfortable, cheerful and non-toxic looking”, the defendants said.
At some time that morning, Mdm Tan asked a nursing intern to help her shower. Following this, Mdm Tan grew to become unresponsive to verbal commands and began gasping for air flow in the toilet.
She has been wheeled and used in her bed, where cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was given at 9. 34am. She dropped into a coma, and died almost 3 weeks later.
The plaintiff claimed that the defendants had been negligent in enabling the nursing intern, a medically inexperienced person, to handle Mdm Tan in an unsupervised and closed-door environment.
He furthermore argued that TTSH disregarded instructions through his sister Microsoft Chia Soo Huey, who “expressly informed” the nurses that will her mother was not to be showered because she was susceptible to fainting.
Instead, a dry bath using a wet material should be used to clean Mdm Tan straight down.
The plaintiff further alleged there was a “prolonged downtime” of six to nine minutes after Mdm Tan flattened in the toilet due to the nursing inwendig being allowed to deal with her.
“During this delay in the deceased’s resuscitation, there was clearly no pulmonary blood circulation in the deceased, inch he said. This caused her to suffer low air levels and permanent brain damage.
The defendants asserted that there was no delay in resuscitation efforts, and that it had been appropriate to steering wheel her to her mattress instead of commencing CPR in the wet toilet.
The legal action claimed damages within the basis that Mdm Tan’s death has been “entirely preventable”.
The plaintiff may lead evidence through six witnesses for making their client’s case, while the defendants are expected to call twenty-four witnesses.
The trial continues just before Justice Choo Ryan Teck on Tuesday.