AFTER fighting the Gulf View Medical Centre for more than a decade former minister in the ministry of finance Karen Nunez-Tesheira has been awarded $18 million plus interest for the death of her husband 17 years ago.
Nunez-Tesheira had claimed negligence in the death of her husband Russell Tesheira, an insurance executive, who passed away on the operating table at Gulf View Medical Centre in San Fernando.
He died in 2004 at 53 years while undergoing a transurethral resectioning operation on his prostate.
In a single ruling of the Privy Council on two appeals on Tuesday, Lords Reed, Sales, Hamblen, Stephens and Pentland dismissed all seven grounds of challenge by the institution and anaesthesiologist Dr Crisen Jendra Roopchand.
Nunez-Tesheira was represented by attorneys Douglas Mendes, SC, Marcelle Ferdinand, Simon de la Bastide and Kerwyn Garcia.
Gulf View Medical Centre was represented by attorneys Mary O’Rourke, KC, David Boyle and Joseph Prince. Katherine Deal, KC, represented Dr Roopchand.
The Privy Council ruled that she should be paid $18 million in compensation in alliance with High Court judge Justice Vasheist Kokaram’s ruling in 2015 that Tesheira’s death was caused by the hospital negligence and he awarded Nunez-Tesheira
However, that decision was appealed by the hospital and Dr Roopchand.
Gulf View Medical Centre and Dr Roopchand will also be required to pay interest for the period they were challenging the case outcome.
