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Court favours doctor
wrongly disciplined by Medical Council
By George Barclay www.guyanachronicle.com
A DECISION by the Medical Council of Guyana to
conduct a second disciplinary hearing against
Dr. Narine Datt Sooknanan, after declaring the
first invalid, was contemptuous, Justice
Jainarayan Singh ruled yesterday.
The litigation surrounded the removal of
Sooknanan’s name from the Practitioners
Register, allegedly for gross negligence.
But Justice Singh’s ruling is that orders nisi
granted by another judge on August 3, 2007, be
made absolute.
It had been reported to the Medical Council that
Sooknanan was grossly negligent during an
operation, at New Amsterdam Hospital in Berbice,
causing the death of a woman.
Consequently, the statutory body took steps to
remove his name from the registered listing. As
a result, the doctor approached the Court for
writs of certiorari, mandamus and prohibition to
quash the move and he was granted a nisi order
which was later made absolute with the consent
of the Council.
However, the Council, subsequently, arranged for
another hearing, resulting in the doctor again
approaching the Court for redress.
Attorney-at-law, Ms. Jamela Ali, who represented
Sooknanan at the other trial, submitted that it
was contrary to the rules of natural justice and
the principles of good administration. She also
argued that what was done by the Council, among
other things, amounted to an abuse of Court
process.
Justice Singh noted it was being alleged that
the woman died 11 months after the operation and
Sooknanan denied any negligence.
After narrating other facts, the judge observed
that, at the March 1, 2006 proceedings,
Sooknanan was questioned on four specific
medical issues to which he responded, despite
the fact that he had no prior notice they would
be raised.
Justice Singh said it would appear and a logical
conclusion can be assumed that the Council, as
constituted on that date, was unable to decide
as to the negligence of the doctor and sought a
review of the evidence by an independent
obstetrician and gynaecologist, who was not
present at the hearing, without the approval or
consent of Sooknanan.
The judge said it was on this review that the
Council reached its finding of gross negligence
and communicated it to the doctor in August
2006, stating that his name would be expunged
from the register.
Sooknanan moved for the reversal the same month
and the Council was stopped from undertaking the
removal but, although the statutory had ample
opportunity to file an affidavit in answer, it
did not do so and, on November 13, 2006,
consented to nisi orders, Justice Singh said.
The judge said, some three months after, in
February 2007, the Council informed Sooknanan it
had decided to hold a second hearing and that
was clearly a breach of the order of prohibition
made on November 13, 2006 by a different judge.
Justice Singh said that, without going any
further, he found that the Council is clearly in
contempt of the prohibition edict to which it
previously consented, by not doing or causing to
be done any act, deed or thing, in furtherance
of or reliance upon the August 4, 2006 decision
to take Sooknanan’s name off the Register.
The proposed second hearing clearly was sought
to be held for the exact purpose which the order
prohibits and, in any event, to hold it almost
five years after the alleged 2003 act of
negligence would be contrary to the rules of
natural justice and an abuse of the process,
Justice Singh said. He agreed with the
submission by Sooknanan’s lawyer that the matter
was res judicata (a case already decided by
judicial authority).
Declaring that the orders of November 13, 2006
are clear and unambiguous and were not appealed,
Justice Singh also awarded $35,000 costs to
Sooknanan, payable by the Council.
New Amsterdam hospital
death. Doctor resigns after asked to proceed on
leave
The New Amsterdam Hospital doctor Dr Narine Datt
Sooknanan, at the heart of the investigation
into the death of a 16-year-old, has resigned.
Kaieteur News understands that this decision was
taken by the doctor, after he was asked by
Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy to proceed on
extended leave to facilitate an in depth
investigation into the incident surrounding the
teen's death.
Recently, the Health Minister had said that a
preliminary report, which was compiled by the
hospital's investigating team, was being studied
by the Health Ministry and the findings would
determine whether there was need for a more
in-depth probe.
The Committee on Questionable Deaths which was
set up earlier this year by Minister Ramsammy,
found last month, that death was not inevitable
in the case of Michelle De Younge, and the lack
of due diligence on the part of the staff of the
New Amsterdam Hospital may have contributed to
it.
Sitting on that Committee are Dr. Vivikenand
Brijmohan, who is the Government Pathologist,
Nursing Tutor Sister Javitri Eugene and Pastor
Roy Thakurdyal.
De Younge died on February 7 last at the New
Amsterdam Hospital , five days after being
admitted.
An eclamptic patient, her condition at admission
necessitated termination of pregnancy through
caesarian section. This operation was done on
February 2.
An eclamptic patient is one who suffers seizures
and is almost comatose.
Among other things, the investigation also
revealed that “professionalism, discipline,
morale and consequently quality health care
delivery are being compromised at the New
Amsterdam hospital, in an environment of
relational tensions, lack of protocol and
absence of team work.”
The report also stated that there was evidence
of some tensions between the two principal
doctors involved in the case. This situation may
have compromised the care given the patient, and
contributed to the end result.
The committee's report indicates that over a
48-hour period, Dr Sooknandan, a senior
doctor/consultant at the institution, failed to
respond to numerous calls to attend to the
seriously ill De Younge.
According to the report, another doctor, Dr
Persaud ordered drips for the patient on
February 4. However, Dr Sooknanan, changed the
treatment from drips to bolus. Dr Persaud is
adamant that the change was not necessary.
Two days later, on February 6, the patient
became critical. Attempts to get Dr Sooknanan to
attend to the patient on three occasions, 08.15
hrs.08.24, and 08.45 hrs were reportedly
unsuccessful.
He finally came at 09:00hrs.
Dr Ganesh was summoned from the A&E unit at
17:05 hrs that same day to treat the patient.
He responded. Attempts were made to get Dr
Sooknanan to attend to the patient at 21:35 hrs.
The doctor responded that he was not on call. He
advised that the patient's treatment be
administered as per chart. The nurses' record
book does not show this was carried out.
De Younge died the next day at 19:50 hrs.
Commenting on the findings of the committee,
Minister Ramsammy reiterated that while the
intention is not to point fingers, the safety of
patients is first priority, and in any
investigation where negligence is found, the
appropriate action will be taken.
“We are not saying that every time such a death
occurs, someone is to be blamed, but we look at
the system and the kind of interventions to
identify weaknesses, but once it is found that
someone is responsible, as the Minister of
Health, I can guarantee you that action will be
taken,” he vowed.
Towards this end he told Kaieteur News yesterday
that in addition to the changes recommended by
the investigating team, a number of departmental
changes and re-organisation within New Amsterdam
Hospital has taken place.
He said that a doctor, who will be available for
the maternity section, is now stationed at the
New Amsterdam Hospital on a 24-hour basis, as
was implemented at the Accident and Emergency
Department.
Dr Ramsammy said he strongly feels that nurses
should not have to call out a doctor and await
his arrival. Instead the doctor would always be
present to render immediate assistance to
patients.
If the case requires the attention of a
specialist, then that specialist would be called
out. The Health Minister acknowledged that many
deaths could be prevented, if quick action is
taken.
He said patients' charts are also now being
audited daily to ensure that the requisite
entries are made by doctors, and that treatment
is administered to patients as per schedule.
Commenting on the recent spate of reports of
incompetence of doctors both in the private and
public sector, the Minister noted that the
Guyana Medical Council is in need of more
enabling legislation that would allow them
expanded leverage in which to execute their
mandate.
He noted that such legislation would define the
perimeters of operation, adding that at the
moment, instances of ineptitude by doctors have
got to be glaring, before the Medical Council
can act on it.
The minister said the archaic Medical
Practitioner's Act of 1924 which give birth to
the Guyana Medical Council is in need of being
updated.
“We need more enabling legislation to govern the
Medical Council which would detail what kinds of
misdemeanors by doctors' action could be taken
against, how complaints are dealt with and
overall to strengthen the way things are done in
the Medical Council, from the ambiguous way they
are done now.”
He said that the Council has begun preparation
on such legislation, which once completed, it
will be approved by him and then gazetted.
Minister Ramsammy reiterated that quality health
care, in any country, cannot be administered
only on good faith, but needs enabling rules and
regulations in place to enforce it.
Council investigating
doctor for alleged ‘incomplete’ surgery
By Stabroeknews.com staff | March 16, 2010
The Medical Council of Guyana is investigating
the case of a West Coast Berbice man, who had
his stomach cut open to remove a hernia but was
stitched up almost ten hours later without the
surgery.
“I coulda dead, I didn’t know nothing from 1
o’clock to 11 o’clock dah night and imagine he
didn’t perform the surgery,” Duryodhan Jaikaran,
36, of D’Edward, West Coast Berbice told
Stabroek News yesterday.
The father of two said he rued the day he
visited the office of Dr Shiv Kumar Ganesh in
November of last year, with the hope of
undergoing what he was told was a simple
surgical procedure.
Stabroek News yesterday confirmed that the
council has launched an investigation into the
incident. Efforts to contact Dr Ganesh, who is
an Indian national and once worked with the
government and the New Amsterdam Hospital, were
unsuccessful.
Jaikaran said after he experienced what he
called “dead and coming back,” he decided to
complain to the council. He said he first
approached Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy
but was told that the man was no longer employed
with the government and that he should take the
matter up with the council.
The young father said he did so and while the
council wrote him a letter and informed that it
launched an investigation, he is concerned about
the length of time it is taking to investigate
the matter. The man said he has not been called
to give further information to the council and
he has only been told that the investigation is
continuing.
Jaikaran, who said the incident has changed his
life forever, explained that he first visited Dr
Ganesh at his office in the Sigma Lab, New
Amsterdam early November last year. He said the
doctor diagnosed him as suffering from a hernia
and told him that he would have had to undergo
surgery. “I ask he. I say, ‘Doctor you could do
the surgery?’ and he tell me how he could do it
and I trust he,” the man said, adding that he
paid out a $15,000 down payment after being told
the procedure would cost $40,000.
The man said he later returned to the office,
where the doctor administered anaesthesia around
1 pm. He said he was out of it for some ten
hours, until around 11 pm the said day. While
Jaikaran was unaware of what was happening, his
wife and mother, who accompanied him, were
forced to witness what his mother termed a
“botched operation.”
Sita Jaikaran said she had already started to
mourn her son, thinking he was going to die. The
woman said when she accompanied her son into the
room where the procedure was expected to be done
she observed that it was only equipped with a
bed and just a few instruments. “I start worry
since before because I hear things and I tell
meh son but he say he still going and when I
just see deh bed alone I get frightened,” she
said.
The woman said the doctor later cut her son but
stitched him up without removing the hernia.
“He come and tell we dat he cut he and stitch he
up back and he nah do deh surgery,” the woman
said. She said the doctor nevertheless requested
the remaining $25,000 that was owed to him.
According to Sita Jaikaran, the doctor washed
his hands and said he was going home to return
while her son lay on the bed “like he dead,
dead.” The doctor later returned but then around
4 pm informed them that he was closing his
office and they should take the man home. “Now
me son lie down like he dead and I had to ask de
taxi driver dat come with we to help fetch he in
de car and me son ent wake up or nothing,” the
woman said. “He eye bin a close and he mouth
open. When me meet home me a slap he on he face,
kiss he up all kinda thing fuh he wake up.
Imagine me son coulda dead. Why de doctor do dat
to he?”
Jaikaran and his mother also said when they
returned the following day for the doctor to
“dress” the cut, he was told to return the next
day. He did so and was told to return another
day and “is den I get vex and tell he to give me
de receipt and I went to another doctor to dress
it and remove dem stitch.”
He later had the hernia removed at the Woodlands
Hospital and the man said four hours after the
procedure commenced he was awake and able to
leave for home.
“I don’t know why deh doctor do something like a
dah, is kill he wan kill me child,” his mother
said.
Last evening, Jaikaran said he hoped to get some
justice from the council but pointed out that
while the investigation drags on the doctor
continues to practice. “Somebody else life could
be at risk. I don’t know why it taking dem so
long,” the man said.
He said he contemplating moving to the courts
against the man but lamented that he knows that
would be another drawn-out procedure. “I just
want de doctor to pay fuh wah he do and to mek
sure he nah do it to anybody else,” the man
said.
Taken from:
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/stories/03/16/council-investigating-doctor-for-alleged-%E2%80%98incomplete%E2%80%99-surgery/comment-page-2/#comment-326289 Read
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