SHAH ALAM, Feb 21 — Firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim’s injuries were inconsistent with those usually sustained during an assault due to an absence of defence wounds, a cardiothoracic surgeon testified today.
Dr S. Anand had examined Muhammad Adib and found injuries concentrated on the young man's chest, or the thoracic region, when the firefighter was admitted at Subang Jaya Medical Centre after getting hurt at riots at the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Subang Jaya last November 26.
“His injuries were consistent with that of a high impact or high velocity force or injury, a crushing injury, a fall from height, rapid acceleration and deceleration, or assault.
“But, it is unusual to have major trauma confined to one area due to assault; you would normally find self-defence wounds, which was not evident in his case,” Dr Anand said during an inquest at the Shah Alam coroner’s court into Muhammad Adib’s death.
When questioned on the probable cause of these injuries, Dr Anand explained it would be difficult to establish the mechanisms of injury given the condition of the victim.
“It is difficult to say, but from the severity, it looks like major trauma from a high impact or high velocity incident, but it is unusual for it to be localised in one area for such a case of trauma,” he added.
Dr Anand was answering queries posed by government lawyer Zhafran Rahim Hamzah, in the presence of Coroner Rofiah Mohamad Mansor.
Dr Anand, along with several other medical specialists in SJMC tended to Adib at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
He noted how when he arrived, the first thing that he noticed was Adib’s swollen chest.
He said this was an indicator of subcutaneous emphysema, or the collection of air between the skin and chest wall.
Doctors then decided to insert tubes under Adib’s skin to release the trapped air, and started to administer doses of adrenaline to aid the immediately recovery process.
“After the insertion his condition improved and was sufficient for us to push him around to do a more detailed investigation to determine other injuries.
“We ran a number of CT scans on his brain, chest, thorax, abdomen, lower hip region and pelvis,” he said in reference to computed tomography scans.
However, Dr Anand said other scans showed no signs of life threatening injuries, except the upper chest area.
More scans he said revealed Adib had suffered extensive bruising to his lung tissues, which was not stopping him from breathing on his own.
“Usually it comes from a high velocity injury; it is the shearing of the blood vessels, that is why it is life threatening,” he said.
Dr Anand then explained how he had met with doctors for the National Heart Institute who had discussed and concurred that Adib needed to be moved to the institute for treatment.
He explained Adib had to be transferred as he needed a extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, also known as extracorporeal life support machine which was not available at SJMC.
The inquest will continue on Monday, pending a court decision of an appeal for the inquest to be halted by the temple committee task force.
