SINGAPORE — Prominent surgical oncologist Professor London Lucien Ooi is being sued by a widower for alleged negligence in a surgery to remove a tumour from his wife’s pancreas.

Mr Koo Quay Keong, 69, claims that the doctor, a senior consultant at the Singapore General Hospital, failed to diagnose his late wife’s post-surgery complications, and his purported delay in managing these conditions, resulting in her death. He is claiming unspecified damages.

The case, which opened in the High Court yesterday, heard that Madam Lee Lee Chan, 59, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2010. Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng, who is representing Mr Koo, said the couple sought Prof Ooi’s opinion because he was a “renowned surgeon” in hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers.

During the consultation, Prof Ooi advised Mdm Lee that the Whipple procedure was the appropriate treatment for her and assured her it was safe. The procedure is most often used to treat pancreatic cancers, that involves removing parts of the pancreas, small intestine and gall bladder.

The businesswoman who ran a jewellery boutique in Singapore and held several directorships in Malaysian companies underwent the operation on July 4, 2011. She died in the evening of July 28, after a second operation in three days to remove fluid build-up in her abdomen.

Mr Koo alleges that Prof Ooi did not pick up multiple symptoms of a post-surgery complication known as a “pancreatic leak” his wife had displayed after her July 4 operation.

He also accuses Prof Ooi of being negligent, in not recognising “clear indicators” Mdm Lee experienced within three days of the surgery, such as producing abnormally high volumes of serous fluids, respiratory difficulties, and abdominal pains. This resulted in “significant delay” in managing the complication, leading to her death, he claims.

Prof Ooi denies both charges. His case is that the operation went through normally and Mdm Lee did not exhibit any clinically significant symptoms post-surgery. She was well enough to be transferred to the general ward four days later.

Prof Ooi also counters that post-surgery care for Mdm Lee met required standards, although a scan showed a fluid build-up in her abdomen on July 17, leading her transfer to the surgical intensive care unit.

Operations to reduce the leakage were carried out nine days later, on July 26, and another one, two days later. But her condition continued to worsen and she died that evening. This gap was “a complete dereliction of his duty”, said Mr Koo in court documents. “But for (Prof Ooi’s) negligence, Mdm Lee would still be alive today.” But Prof Ooi contends that it was a joint decision with other practitioners to hold off on an invasive surgery, unless Mdm Lee’s condition did not improve after non-surgical procedures are carried out.

He says that in discussions with intensivists, it was clear that risks of death would be “very high” if Mdm Lee had been operated on in her condition at that time.

Yesterday, the plaintiff called Mr Ian James Beckingham, a fellow of Royal College Surgeons in London, to the stand. He was quizzed by both sides on the symptoms of a pancreatic leak, among other things.

The trial continues today and is scheduled to end on Jan 29.

Prof Ooi is implicated in a separate ongoing lawsuit launched by Malaysian businessman Hii Chii Kok, who accuses the professor and National Cancer Centre for misdiagnosing him with cancer when he had none.