NUH lawsuit won by patient and family

In July 2009, the High Court released its judgment in the case of the lawsuit concerning the death of kidney donor Narindar Kaur. She had died as a result of internal bleeding following an kidney transplant operation.

The court found that the 2 defendant doctors, Li Man Kay and David Consigliere, were not guilty of negligence as they had followed accepted practice. However, the National University Hospital was found to be negligent. This was because the Hospital had failed to monitor the deceased's medical condition to detect post-surgery complications. Unfortunately, a key witness, a Filipino nurse who could have shed light on what exactly happened during a critical period following the operation, returned to her home and was not available to testify in court.

As the court had decided on liability (that one of the defendants is liable), the next stage is quantum assessment - where the court will assess the damages payable to the family of the deceased.

As a result of the lawsuit, NUS now takes additional precautions - following surgery, all donor-patients are placed in a high dependency ward for 24 hours. There, all their vital signs are monitored continuously, before being sent to the general ward.