KUALA LUMPUR: A forensic pathologist told the Sessions Court here today that the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) cadet officer J. Soosaimanicckam, who died after completing his daily physical training, could have survived if he had received early treatment, six years ago.
Datuk Seri Dr Bhupinder Singh, 73, who is the Associate Professor and Head of Forensic and Legal Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI) & University College Dublin (UCD) Malaysia Campus in Penang said in his opinion, if the deceased had been referred to a medical institution early, recovery would have been possible.
“I looked at the increased creatinine in this individual (Soosaimanicckam) which is a hallmark of leptospirosis. Orphenadrine was seen in the blood. It is a muscle relaxant combined with paracetamol for fever. The question is where did Orphenadrine come from? There was no quantification of the drug in the body.
“The histopathology of the lungs showed neutrophil infiltration, with fibrin microthrombi in alveolar spaces and in the small and medium vessels showing features of lung infection, pulmonary haemorrhage and disseminated intravascular.”
He said this in his witness statement in the suit filed by Soosaimanicckam’s father S. Joseph against 11 individuals, including RMN officers, the RMN commander, the Malaysian Armed Forces Council, the Defence Minister and the Malaysian Government as the first to 15th defendants.
Dr Bhupinder, who was the plaintiff’s last witness added that the post-mortem conducted by the medical officer was not appropriate and should have been conducted by a trained forensic pathologist after the doctor received the post-mortem report from the Military Hospital Lumut, Perak.
“A lot of things mentioned in the post-mortem report have not been looked into, to come to a proper diagnosis. In an institutional death like this, especially involving government agencies, the post-mortem should have been conducted by a trained forensic pathologist, especially in this case where the cause of death was not obvious.
“The doctor who conducted the post-mortem failed to send specimens for investigation especially the blood and urine samples which the doctor said were not available. Also, samples of the liver, kidneys, adrenals and spleen were not taken for histopathology which would have been very helpful for a proper diagnosis,” he said.
The witness added that from the available history, the patient had been complaining about difficulty in breathing and muscle aches with a positive finding of pulmonary haemorrhage, muscle aches and also difficulty in breathing.
“With a known history of the same participants lodging with the patient who also developed renal failure and the deceased also had deranged liver enzymes, all these are suggestive of the deceased probably having leptospirosis right from the beginning.
“Not being treated, the deceased went into massive renal failure, shock and massive pulmonary haemorrhage leading to respiratory failure. After the onset of the pulmonary symptoms in leptospirosis, which progresses rapidly the patient can die within 48 hours as a result of respiratory failure,” said the doctor.
Meanwhile, former RMN combat instructor Muhammad Faiz Mohamed Zanila, 39, said Soosaimanicckam never made any complaint that he was ill while undergoing training as a cadet officer at KD Sultan Idris.
The first defendant’s witness who currently works as a security executive at Pengerang Marine Operation in Johor said every trainee can make a complaint or sick report to any trainer or the Training Officer on Duty by filling in the ‘Morning/Special Sickness Report form: Medical Examination Report ‘ at the counter of the residential college.
“I also never prevented the deceased or any trainee from going to HAT Lumut to seek treatment,” he said during the examination-in-chief by Senior Federal Counsel Nur Ezdiani Roleb.
In the lawsuit filed on May 19, 2021, the victim’s family is alleging negligence on the part of the defendants for failing to provide emergency treatment when the victim collapsed on the day of the incident, and further claiming negligence in monitoring his well-being and health during training sessions.
Yesterday, the Ipoh High Court ruled that the death of Soosaimanicckam was homicide and held that his untimely death was a direct consequence of RMN officers in charge of the cadet training in denying Soosaimanicckam to seek medical treatment and therefore set aside the Coroner Court’s findings of an open verdict.
The trial before Judge Idah Ismail continues on Aug 1.
