The family of Dr Sebastian Joseph has gone to the Court of Appeal to hold the government and police responsible over his ‘botched’ autopsy following a ‘suspicious’ death in Langkawi nearly 13 years ago.
When contacted by Malaysiakini, the family’s counsel M Visvanathan confirmed they filed their notice of appeal against the decision of the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on June 22.
The family’s co-counsel V Sanjay Nathan today also confirmed that the notice of appeal was filed on Thursday last week.
On June 22, the civil court dismissed the negligence lawsuit action linked to the late Sebastian, who served with a government clinic in Langkawi and was found dead in his quarters on Nov 17, 2010. He was 30 years old.
Judicial commissioner Leong Wai Hong ordered the family to pay RM5,000 in costs to the defendants, namely the police and the government.
The civil court ruled among others that the suit initiated in May 2018 was filed out of time per statutory limitation.
Per the Public Authorities Protection Act 1948, a claimant may only file a civil action within three years of the act or neglect which was alleged against the government and its agencies.
Through the civil action, the family was seeking general and exemplary damages, among other reliefs.
In 2010, after Sebastian’s death, his autopsy was conducted at Langkawi Hospital but the person in charge concluded that Sebastian’s cause of death could not be ascertained.
Sebastian’s family spent the next five years jumping through legal hoops to secure a second autopsy.
Botched autopsy
When the second autopsy was finally conducted, on March 17, 2015, the family’s worst fears were confirmed - the first autopsy conducted at Langkawi Hospital was botched.
The second autopsy was conducted by Universiti Malaya’s Department of Pathology professor Dr Kasinathan Nadesan and Australian consultant forensic pathologist Dr Richard Byron Collins at the UM Medical Centre.
Collins in his report noted: “The dilemma concerning the determination of the cause of death is undoubtedly a direct consequence of the inadequacy of the initial post-mortem examination.
“The quality of this procedure was, at best, grossly substandard and, in this day and age, entirely unacceptable.
“In my over 40 years of experience in forensic pathology, this particular autopsy is in the lowest standard grouping.”
It was discovered that several organs were not dissected or examined in the first autopsy while those that were, such as the heart and coronary arteries, were not properly done.
Kasinathan concluded that Sebastian’s death was due to heart disease, while Collins said it would be an injustice to attribute the death to heart disease due to the drugs found in the deceased’s body.
Collins said, as a result, Sebastian’s death ought to be investigated further.
The toxicology results by the Victorian Institute Forensic Medicine’s Department of Toxicology found the presence of synthetic chemicals and Collins said it was important for an investigation to determine how it got into the deceased’s body.
“Quite simply, this death should be regarded as a suspicious death until all satisfactory investigations have been completed by the appropriate authorities.
“It would be a travesty, in my opinion, if it was assigned to natural causes in the present state of its incompleteness, and an injustice to both the deceased and his family,” Collins said.
Open verdict
The next course of action was an inquest, which was granted by the Alor Setar High Court on Jan 7, 2015, when it instructed that Sebastian’s body be exhumed for the second autopsy.
The family then filed the civil court action in 2018.
In 2019, the coroner’s court in Alor Setar delivered an open verdict over Sebastian’s death, ruling that the inquest could not determine whether the death was due to suicide, natural causes, or foul play. - Mkini
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