Last year, Mr Singh (left) and his mother-in-law, Madam Minda Kour, filed a lawsuit against NUH and the two surgeons who carried out the procedure, Dr Li Man Kay and his assistant Dr David Terence Consigliere. -- PHOTO: NP
THE number of clips used to clamp a major blood vessel of a woman who died hours after a kidney transplant surgery has become a key issue in a medical negligence suit brought by her husband and mother.
Four years ago, Madam Narindar Kaur, 33, a mother of three, bled to death while recuperating in a ward at the National University Hospital after an operation to donate her left kidney to her husband, Mr Surender Singh.
Last year, Mr Singh and his mother-in-law, Madam Minda Kour, filed a lawsuit against NUH and the two surgeons who carried out the procedure, Dr Li Man Kay and his assistant Dr David Terence Consigliere.
The case opened in the High Court on Wednesday to determine whether the defendants are liable to pay the plaintiffs for Madam Kaur's death.
One of the key issue that the court will have to decide is whether four clips were used to secure her left renal artery.
An autopsy found four clips in the area around Madam Kaur's kidney. But the doctors maintain that they only used two clips to secure her renal artery.
The view of the plaintiffs' expert witness, Professor Michael Nicholson from the University of Leicester, is that it is wrong to use four clips on the renal artery.
The other issue is over the post-operative care given to Madam Kaur.
Prof Nicholson's view is that she should have been monitored every 15 minutes. But the defendants say hourly monitoring was in line with standard practice.
