SHAH ALAM: The Coroner's Court here fixed Aug 25 to deliver its verdict on the inquest into a Kajang prison inmate's death while serving his sentence for murder in 2021.
Coroner Rasyihah Ghazali closed the inquest after hearing the testimonies of 25 witnesses during seven days of proceedings.
These included Dr Fatini Ishak, Dr Nurul Ainna Khirul Annur and Dr Shamira Shahar, the last three witnesses, who had attended to the deceased, K. Roopan, when he was admitted to Kajang Hospital in June 2021.
Roopan, who was 25 at the time, was rushed to Kajang Hospital on June 17 that year when he experienced breathing difficulties.
He was discharged four days later, on June 20, only to die a day later while in prison.
His post-mortem examination report stated that he died due to a blood clot-related condition.
Previously, the court heard that Roopan's life could have been saved, had a blood clot in his calf been detected while he was in hospital.
Today, the court again heard that the doctors could not identify who had ordered the D-Dimer test on Roopan, despite having attended to the deceased at the hospital's emergency department and in the ward.
The D-Dimer test is a blood test that signals the presence of blood clots in a patient's body. Roopan's D-Dimer test came back at 17.67, much higher than the normal reading of 0.5.
Dr Fatini, who had physically examined Roopan in the emergency department before admitting him to a the ward, said that Roopan was having breathing difficulties when she attended to him during her rounds on June 17, around 11.30am.
"I saw that he had breathing difficulties and was in need of oxygen support. However, he could still answer questions and said that he had vomited twice that day and was have headaches.
"However, his lungs and stomach were clear and there was no bruise on his legs. His white blood cell count was high, at 16, and his chest x-ray showed that there was something white in his right lung.
"At that time, Covid-19 was still active so I treated him for lung infection and admitted him into the Covid-19-suspected ward," she said.
She then told the coroner that Roopan was not referred to a specialist as his condition, during her examination, was stable.
She also said that the D-Dimer test result did not appear in the patient's note when she was attending to him.
She further testified that she did not know which doctor took over Roopan's case after he was admitted, and that only a medical officer or specialist could order for any test.
Dr Fatini also told the court that the D-Dimer test would be ordered if a doctor suspected that a patient has a high risk of developing thrombosis, and this high risk was not seen on Roopan during her rounds.
Thrombosis is a condition that occurs when blood clots block a patient's veins or arteries. Symptoms include chest pain, swelling or numbness on one side of the body.
However, the last witness, Dr Shamira, contradicted Dr Fatini's testimony.
She said anybody could have ordered a D-Dimer test on a patient.
Dr Shamira then backed up her testimony by saying that the D-Dimer test result must be interpreted together with the patient's clinical symptoms and their risks of developing thrombosis, to which she said Roopan showed low risk.
Dr Shamira was one of the first doctors that had attended to Roopan after he was warded in the hospital.