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Family of woman who died during childbirth allowed to seek claims

SINGAPORE — More than six years after his wife died while giving birth to their son in 2007, a man obtained new medical records that suggested her death could have been due to the negligent medical treatment that she received.

Thomson Medical Centre. Photo: Google Street View

Thomson Medical Centre. Photo: Google Street View

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SINGAPORE —  More than six years after his wife died while giving birth to their son in 2007, a man obtained new medical records that suggested her death could have been due to the negligent medical treatment that she received.

The man then launched a legal suit on behalf of himself, his daughter, now 11, and nine-year-old son, who suffered brain injuries and was born with severe disabilities, to seek dependency claims from his late wife’s obstetrician, Dr Koh Cheng Huat, and Thomson Medical.

Although the suit was filed past the three-year statutory limitation period, the Court of Appeal yesterday allowed it to be heard, overturning a lower court’s ruling that the suit should be struck out because it was filed past the statutory limitation time.

Dependency claims include those for loss of support, savings and inheritance. The lawyer declined to state the amount that the family is claiming. The deceased and her family members cannot be named because of a court gag order.

Under the Civil Law Act, such actions must be brought within three years after a person’s death. The former teacher died in  September 2007 of acute amniotic fluid embolism, a rare but serious condition where amniotic fluid enters the mother’s bloodstream.

While accepting that the time-bar had been crossed, the man’s lawyer, Ms Kuah Boon Theng, argued it would be “premature and prejudicial” to strike out the claims without further inquiry into specific issues, such as whether the medical practitioners had fraudulently withheld essential medical records.

“(Their conduct) violated ethical standards of fair and open disclosure applicable to healthcare professionals and providers, and caused the appellants to remain ignorant of the link between the deceased’s death and the treatment she received leading up to (it),” argued Ms Kuah in written submissions to the court.

The possibility that the information furnished by the doctor and hospital could be incomplete was only brought to the husband’s attention in 2010 by a medical expert whom he had consulted. When queried, Thomson Medical confirmed in January 2011 that it had provided complete records.

It was only in June 2014 that portions of the cardiotocography records omitted earlier were offered to the husband, and they had already faded by then, the court heard.

Cardiotocography is used to monitor a baby’s heart rate and a mother’s contractions while the baby is in the uterus. Thomson Medical explained that the belated disclosure was due to documents being held by the police for some time after the woman’s death, the court was told.

Dr Koh and Thomson Medical had succeeded in striking out the claims made by the man when he first filed the suit in 2014 on the basis that the statutory time limit had barred the family from seeking these claims.

The family’s appeal to the High Court was dismissed in September last year on a similar basis.

Yesterday, the apex court allowed the appeal by the man and his daughter, by ruling that there is an arguable case that the late disclosure of a set of medical reports might have resulted in the late commencement of the suit.

The judge at a future hearing will have to decide if the court has the power to bar reliance on the statutory time limit on grounds that Dr Koh and Thomson Medical had acted fraudulently, which is the appellants’ case, by withholding essential medical records.

But the son’s appeal was struck out by the apex court because he was not named as a party on the notice of appeal filed. He is still entitled to pursue claims for personal injury. 

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