SINGAPORE, Feb 7 — State Coroner Adam Nakhoda criticised a surgeon whose patient died after a botched procedure, saying the doctor was not forthcoming and had provided untrue accounts of what happened.

The consultant urologist operated on a 63‑year‑old woman at Raffles Hospital on April 29, 2022, after scans revealed a 7.5cm tumour in her kidney, according to The Straits Times. 

She had consented to minimally invasive surgery to remove the growth.

During the operation, Dr Fong Yan Kit mistakenly disconnected the patient’s superior mesenteric artery and coeliac trunk — major vessels supplying blood to the stomach and bowels — instead of the renal vessels. 

The error caused a catastrophic loss of blood supply to her abdominal organs, and she died in hospital on May 2, 2022.

At the coroner’s inquiry in November 2025, the State Coroner cited findings from an Academy of Medicine Singapore (AMS) expert report by Professor Christopher Cheng, which said that when Dr Fong realised an error had occurred, he paused for 13 minutes but failed to acknowledge the mistake or call for help.

Prof Cheng wrote, “Any reasonably competent surgeon would have realised by now too many large vessels not directly related to the kidney had been ligated and transected.” 

Ignoring the obvious clues and making no attempt to correct the situation while the patient was still in the operating theatre was “incomprehensible”, he added. 

He also found that delays in verifying the mistake with a CT scan and in calling a vascular surgeon were inexcusable and could have contributed to her death.

The State Coroner noted that Dr Fong’s medical reports skirted the fact that the wrong arteries had been severed, and that his first report did not mention the mistaken transection. 

He said, “Similarly, the Raffles Hospital second medical report at best skirted around the fact that the coeliac trunk and the superior mesenteric artery were transected due to an identification error on the part of Dr Fong,” and ruled the death a medical misadventure.

In his own reports, Dr Fong said bleeding is commonly encountered during such procedures and that he had severed surrounding arteries as part of usual practice to stem it. 

He said the vessels he ligated should have been the renal arteries supplying the woman’s left kidney, and suggested the tumour might have displaced the superior mesenteric artery and coeliac trunk.

However, Prof Cheng found that while displacement was possible, any variation would have been identifiable on the CT scan. 

He said the surgical video showed no attempt to confirm the renal artery and noted the 13‑minute pause after the wrong arteries were cut. 

There was also no documentation that Dr Fong sought a second opinion during that time.

The State Coroner said there were three opportunities for Dr Fong to recognise and possibly correct the error, but none were taken. 

He found that the patient’s death was avoidable if the mistake had been admitted earlier and immediate repair attempted. 

He recommended that surgeons review and plan procedures carefully, and pause to verify anatomy if the surgical landscape appears different from what was expected.

The patient’s family was represented at the inquiry by lawyers from WongPartnership.

* A previous edition of the story wrongly attributed comments to State Coroner Adam Nakhoda instead of Professor Christopher Cheng. The errors have since been corrected.