The forensic pathologist who conducted the postmortem on the body of Warren Douglas Mottley said the 55-year-old had a fatal reaction to an infection he developed following surgery at a private medical facility.
Dr Shubhakar Kara Paul said the brother of Prime Minister Mia Mottley and son of prominent attorney Sir Elliott Mottley died from “sepsis due to perforation of the small bowel caused during a surgical laparoscopic procedure”.
He gave that evidence on Wednesday at the Supreme Court during the Coroner’s Inquest into the death of Mottley who passed away at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) on June 29, 2021.
Dr Shubhakar told Coroner Magistrate Graveney Bannister that he carried out a postmortem on Mottley’s body on July 9, 2021 at the QEH mortuary after speaking with the deceased’s relatives who gave him “a rundown on the events that led to [his] death”.
His examination, he explained, found that the body was that of “a well-nourished man” who had undergone a medical procedure six years prior.
Dr Shubhakar said that according to the information received, Mottley visited Surgical Solutions Incorporation on June 22, 2021, for a general health check where he underwent a diagnostic colonoscopy after which he was discharged.
“. . . This set off an unfortunate chain of events that ultimately caused his death,” he said.
The pathologist said the postmortem examination confirmed a surgical repair of Mottley’s perforated small bowel, which was a “tear in the bowel”.
He said Mottley had a surgical procedure done six years ago which put him “in the high-risk group for any further gastrointestinal surgical procedures because his abdomen was no longer a virgin abdomen”.
“The changes . . . to the anatomy of his abdomen makes it challenging for even skilled surgeons to perform a gastrointestinal surgical procedure and, hence, Mr Mottley’s . . . operative assessment had to be . . . robust.
“The standard of medical care before, during and after the surgical procedures . . . [such as a] colonoscopy and laparoscopy offered by Surgical Solutions Incorporated must be investigated by the Coroner since it is beyond the scope of the author of this report to opine if Surgical Solutions Incorporated had the expertise and set -up to deal with such a case,” Dr Shubhakar said as he read from his postmortem report.
The lawyers representing the Mottley family and those of the private doctors involved in the matter have both reserved their questioning of the forensic pathologist for another day, which was not disclosed.
