Man sues TTSH & 3 doctors for $800K after mother’s death, he claims her death was ‘entirely preventable’

A lawsuit was filed against Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) by the son of an elderly woman who died on May 13, 2018, with the hearing for the suit starting on Monday (Aug 15).

Mr Chia Soo Kiang, 47, has sued the hospital and three doctors for negligence, claiming several breaches of their duty of care. He is seeking $800,000 in damages, saying that his mother’s death had been “entirely preventable”.

The defendants in the case are TTSH, together with Dr Dorai Raj D Appadorai, Dr Lee Wei Sheng, and Dr Ranjana Acharaya.

Madam Tan Yaw Lan, who was 74 when she died, had a number of health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and kidney disease. 

On April 23, 2018, she suffered a heart attack while taking a shower at TTSH. She was attended by a nursing intern at that time. After the heart attack, Mdm Tan suffered brain damage and then fell into a coma, and passed away three weeks later.

Mr Chia’s legal team alleges that medications for Mdm Tan’s heart condition and diabetes were withheld after she was admitted and that the hospital failed to refer her to appropriate specialists for her heart condition. 

They also alleged that TTSH let a medically untrained person—the nursing intern—handle her.

”Despite the deceased’s medical history known to the defendants, the defendants had acted in a callous manner to a high-risk and vulnerable person, even to the extent of permitting an untrained intern nurse to treat the deceased, which resulted in her collapse and delay in responding to the emergency,” The Straits Times reports Mr Clarence Lun, the lawyer of Mr Chia, as saying.

However, the hospital and doctors’ legal team claim that Mdm Tan received the required standard of care and that the treatment and management of her case had been appropriate.

Mdm Tan had been admitted to the hospital on April 20, 2018, due to lethargy and fever.

Her diagnosis upon admission was sepsis, a Type 2 heart attack, diabetes, anaemia and worsening kidney function.

Doctors suspended some of her heart medications and put her on antibiotics as part of her treatment plan.

Her son, however, alleges that the Type 2 heart attack had been a misdiagnosis.

He also said that the plan to refer her to TTSH’s cardiovascular medicine department, which was cancelled by Dr Ranjana, should have been pushed through. /TISG

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