Dr Bhupinder Singh, 73, who is an associate professor and head of forensic and legal medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and University College Dublin Malaysia Campus (RUMC) in Penang, said if Soosaimanicckam had been referred to a medical facility early, recovery would have been possible.
“I looked at the increased creatinine in 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 in his witness statement in the suit filed by Soosaimanicckam’s father S Joseph against 11 respondents, including navy officers, the navy commander, the Malaysian Armed Forces Council, the defence minister and the government.
Bhupinder, who was the plaintiff’s last witness, added that the post-mortem should have been conducted by a trained forensic pathologist after the doctor received the post-mortem report from Hospital Angkatan Tentera (HAT) 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.
Bhupinder said from the available history, the patient had been complaining about difficulty breathing and muscle aches with a positive finding of pulmonary haemorrhage.
“Soosaimanicckam also developed renal failure and had deranged liver enzymes, all these are suggestive of him 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,” he said.
Meanwhile, former navy combat instructor Faiz Zanila, 39, said Soosaimanicckam did not complain that he was ill during training as a cadet at KD Sultan Idris.
The first respondent’s witness, who currently works as a security executive at Pengerang Marine Operations in Johor, said every trainee could 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 Hospital Angkatan Tentera 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 alleged that the respondents were negligent for failing to provide emergency treatment when the victim collapsed on the day of the incident, and that they did not monitor his well-being and health during training sessions.
Yesterday, the Ipoh High Court ruled that Soosaimanicckam’s death was a homicide as a direct consequence of navy officers in charge of the training denying him medical treatment, and set aside the coroner’s court’s finding of an open verdict.
The trial before judge Idah Ismail continues on Aug 1.