Hotman to scrutinize Sukma's hospital record
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The family of TV star Sukma Ayu, who died on Sept. 25 at her home after being in a coma for five and a half months at Medistra Hospital, served on Friday a formal letter seeking particulars from the hospital.
The letter, issued by Hotman Paris & Partners Law firm, contains 13 questions concerning possible negligence on the part of the hospital and the nine-strong team of doctors.
"We demand that the hospital answer the questions within one week or we will take legal action," Hotman Paris Hutapea told reporters at the hospital lobby.
He said the next step depended on the decision of Sukma's parents: director and screenwriter Misbach Yusa Biran and veteran actress Nani Widjaya.
"It is possible we will file a civil lawsuit with the court or file a negligence complaint with the police."
The 15-page letter was addressed to hospital management PT Baktiparamita Putrasama, Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi, the ministry's director general of medical services, and to the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI).
Among the questions was a query why the doctor decided on April 9 at 5:25 a.m. to perform surgery and administer general anesthesia to Sukma without asking her medical history. In Sukma's 1985 medical records it is stated that she suffers from a Glucose 6 Phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency. Certain drugs may worsen the symptoms of people with a G6PD deficiency causing oxidative stress on the body's red blood cells. Certain drugs, therefore, are out of the question for patients with a G6PD deficiency.
Sukma fell in a nightclub and hurt her arm. She was sent to the hospital's emergency room. The hospital reportedly did not ask the family's approval before performing surgery.
The letter also quoted some parts of Misbach's letter to the law firm on Oct. 6.
Beautifully written, Misbach shared his experience of attending to his dying daughter at the hospital.
"Whenever I entered or left Sukma's room, all the doctors seemed indifferent.
"If I greeted them first, they only replied briefly ... I had shelled out a lot of money for them to earn a living," he wrote.
The family took Sukma home to Sentul, Bogor, where she died several hours after being transferred.
"When Sukma died, the hospital expressed their concern. They sent a small bouquet," Misbach ended his letter.
Sideline story
Police, IDI agree to hasten malpractice investigations
The Jakarta Police and the ethics board of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) have agreed to work together to hasten investigations into allegations of negligence.
"The agreement states that the police can ask the IDI to give us two expert witnesses, so we don't have to wait until the IDI's ethics board makes a decision on a case before carrying out the investigation," detective chief Sr. Comr. Mathius Salempang said on Thursday.
In the current practice, he said, the police had to wait for the ethics board to decide whether doctors really did not follow correct medical procedures.
Citing an example, Salempang revealed that they had yet to receive any indication from the ethics board about an allegation of negligence against the Pantai Indah Kapuk Hospital in North Jakarta, filed by an American citizen in March.
IDI's ethics board meets every Thursday to investigate alleged violations of medical ethics by doctors filed with them.
The Jakarta Police have received at least 20 complaints of malpractice since April, but so far have not made any progress in the investigations. -- JP