Man struggles for justice over wife's death
Man struggles for justice over wife's death
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Indra Safri Yakub has refused to back down from his struggle to
see justice done after the untimely death of his wife, even
though the courts turned down his civil lawsuit against 11
doctors of three hospitals last week.
He filed on Thursday a fresh complaint with the Jakarta
Police.
"I'm lodging an official complaint against two doctors of
Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) for alleged negligence that
led to the death of my wife," said Indra, who was accompanied by
Erna Ratnaningsih of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH
Jakarta).
Erna said she and Indra were now collecting more evidence on
the other nine doctors before filing complaints against them for
allegedly failing to provide proper assistance.
In December 2002, Adya Vitri Harsisusanti died during a pre-
surgery procedure at RSCM.
Indra said on Dec. 19 a doctor at RSCM inserted a needle into
a vein in his wife's neck to administer an anesthetic for surgery
the following day.
"My wife had been suffering from some kind of digestion
problem," he said. "The doctor said she had a problem with her
colon."
"Forty minutes later, she was dead. I remember seeing the
doctor and he looked panicked," Indra said.
Afterwards he found out that the doctor was a general
practitioner, not an anesthesiologist.
"An anesthetic specialist should have accompanied the general
practitioner," Erna added. "But the doctor was alone that day, so
we've also filed a complaint against the head of the
anesthesiology department at the hospital."
Indra's grief deepened when he heard from a surgeon that his
wife died not because of the colon problem, but due to
neurological shock.
"After she died, I asked them not to perform an autopsy on my
wife. I didn't have the heart," he asked.
The absence of the autopsy report was one of the factors cited
by the judges at the Central Jakarta District Court last week as
they tossed out his lawsuit.
"But I had other evidence other than the autopsy report. I had
written evidence from my wife's doctor about the possible cause
of her death," he said. "I think the evidence is strong enough."