FIREFIGHTER Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim died due to acute lung failure according to his medical report, the Coroner’s Court heard today.

National Heart Centre (IJN) senior consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Mohamed Ezani Md Taib told the court that the cause of death was stated in a detailed medical report prepared by Adib’s doctors at IJN from November 28 till his death on December 17 last year.

“His clinical cause of death was adult respiratory distress syndrome, or in other words, acute lung failure,” he said.

He said the 24-year-old had blunt chest trauma resulting from a “hard object” hitting his chest.

“The hard object is speculative,” he added.

He said that Adib had gone in and out of consciousness during the time he was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital.

When asked by DPP Faten Hadni on Adib’s level of consciousness at that time, Ezani said it was impossible to tell as it was fluctuating due to the amount of sedatives he had been given.

“It’s almost impossible to say which day he was conscious and unconscious. There were times he could communicate with sign language and there were times when he was unresponsive,” he told coroner Rofiah Mohamad Mansor at the Shah Alam Coroner’s Court today.

He said that Adib could not speak as he had tubes running through his mouth and throat to assist in his breathing.

“Eventually the sedation and medication reduced, he was responsive. We even gave him a whiteboard to write his responses to us,” he said.

When asked whether Adib could comprehend what he was being asked, Dr Ezani told the courts that it was impossible to say.

“There were times when you could ask him questions and he would respond, but there were other times where he was out of consciousness,” he said.

The second witness of the day, Dr Suneta Sulaiman, who is an IJN consultant anaesthesiologist, also corroborated Dr Ezani’s testimony with her own medical report.

She said that Adib had to be put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (Ecmo machine), which replaced the function of the heart and lungs.

“We knew we had to put him on the Ecmo machine as he had difficulty in maintaining oxygenation in the blood,” she said.

Dr Suneta said by Day 4 in the ICU on December 2, Adib’s heart function had recovered. Being an Ecmo specialist, Suneta then discussed with her team of doctors and decided that Adib would be put on a different Ecmo that only supported lung functions.

“His general condition had improved but he was still critically ill.

“His kidney function was weak and he required dialysis support. At the same time, he was awake and responsive to our calls and instructions.”

She said he was responsive to his surroundings as well.

Dr Suneta told the court that after Day 6, he could point to his shoulder and lift his hand.

“He pointed to his right shoulder to alert us that there was pain, so we put an arm sling on him,” she said.

Dr Ezani and Dr Suneta are the 14th and 15th witnesses in the inquest over the firefighter’s death.

Dr Suneta will continue her testimony tomorrow.

Last week, Dr S. Anand, 46, who is a cardiothoracic surgeon at the Subang Jaya Medical Centre, told the court that Adib’s injuries were not consistent with usual assault cases.

He inferred that from his examinations of the X-rays that self-defence was not involved in this case.

“It’s an isolated injury, evidence of self defence wounds were not evident in this case,” he told the coroner.

Adib suffered multiple fractures on the right ribs and a collapsed lung (lung contusion) when he was brought to hospital.

The inquest was ordered as there were no conclusive findings in the probe into how Adib was injured during the riots at the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Subang Jaya on November 27 and 28 last year.

Police investigations revealed that there could be two possibilities as to what caused the 24-year-old’s death: either he was beaten by a mob or was run over by a fire truck.

Adib was hospitalised for three weeks, and despite regaining consciousness and showing signs of recovery, he died on December 17 due to lung failure. – February 25, 2019.