Woman, 63, dies after S'pore doctor cuts wrong blood vessels during kidney surgery, fails to report error

Editor's note on Feb. 13, 5:27pm: The article previously attributed certain quotes to State Coroner Adam Nakhoda. They were actually made by senior consultant urologist Christopher Cheng. The article has been amended to reflect this.

The failure of a Raffles Hospital doctor to remedy his mistakes during a botched kidney procedure could have contributed to a 63-year-old patient's death in 2022, a state coroner said during a coroner's inquiry in November 2025.

The doctor, who was removing a tumour from the patient's kidney, had cut the wrong blood vessels by mistake and failed to take timely steps to address it, such as by calling in a vascular surgeon for help.

The mistake was discovered after the patient continued to feel unwell post-surgery.

A remedial surgery found that a number of the patient's digestive organs showed signs of inadequate blood supply, and surgeons decided she would not survive the procedure to reconnect the severed vessels.

She eventually died days later.

Surgery to remove tumour in left kidney

According to a report by The Straits Times, the Raffles Hospital urologist, Fong Yan Kit, operated on a 63-year-old mother of two.

She had visited the hospital on Apr. 28, 2022, at around 3am after finding blood in her urine and vomiting.

After being referred to Fong, a CT scan revealed a 7.5cm growth in her left kidney.

That same day at around 8am, Fong diagnosed a left renal tumour and advised the woman to undergo a keyhole surgery to remove it.

The woman agreed, and the surgery was scheduled for Apr. 29, 2022.

After the procedure, the woman was transferred to the general ward.

Fong said he reviewed the woman the next day and noted that her vital signs were stable, although she complained of mild bloating, ST reported.

In turn, the surgeon told the woman that feeling bloated after the surgery was normal, but the woman continued to complain of abdominal bloatedness and nausea.

Condition did not improve

On May 1, 2022, at around 3am, the woman flagged her abdominal pain again.

Her blood pressure had also dropped.

A resident doctor attended to the woman, who then informed Fong that his patient was unwell.

45 minutes later, the urologist then instructed for the woman to be placed in the intensive care unit and ordered an urgent CT scan.

Fong returned to the hospital at 4am and examined the patient.

He noted that there was a lot of gas in her colon and that her colon was distended.

Fong referred her to the general surgeon on duty, who then ordered an emergency gastroscopy.

Severed arteries discovered

Citing court documents, ST wrote that Fong made an urgent referral to a vascular interventional radiologist at around 11:30am.

It was then discovered that the woman's superior mesenteric artery and coeliac trunk — blood vessels supplying blood to digestive organs — had been severed.

An emergency operation was undertaken at 3pm.

The surgeons present found that the woman's organs, colon, stomach and small intestine showed signs of inadequate blood supply, ST reported.

They also found the arteries Fong had severed, and while they wanted to rejoin them, the procedure would have lasted some hours.

The surgeons were forced to call off the procedure as they had assessed that the woman would not survive a major operation, according to ST, who cited the coroner's report.

The woman's condition continued to deteriorate and she was pronounced dead at 3:05am on May 2, 2022.

Medical reports did not refer to mistake

State Coroner Adam Nakhoda said that Fong had not been forthcoming in his explanations to the court.

The urologist's first medical report did not mention the fact that he had severed the wrong arteries by mistake.

Raffles Hospital's second medical report also skirted around the fact that the wrong arteries had been severed due to Fong's mistake.

Fong, in one of his medical reports, noted that bleeding is common in the procedure as blood vessels around the kidney can be damaged.

Bleeding had happened during the woman's first procedure, and Fong explained that he disconnected and severed the surrounding arteries, as per usual practice, to stop the bleeding.

These arteries should have been the renal arteries, which supplied blood to the left kidney.

It was unusual for the woman's mesenteric artery and coeliac trunk to be in that location, Fong noted.

He added that the tumour may have caused the arteries to be displaced.

Severed arteries and target vessel anatomically distinct: Expert

A senior consultant urologist at Singapore General Hospital, Christopher Cheng, said in an expert report that such displacement was possible, but CT scans would have identified variations.

Cheng also said it was unlikely for the mesenteric artery to be mistaken as the renal artery as it is larger in size and anatomically distinct, ST wrote.

There was no apparent attempt to look for a pulsating vessel typical of a renal artery, based on a video recording of Fong's surgery, Cheng noted.

Cheng also made note of the 13 minutes when Fong paused during the surgery after severing the wrong arteries.

He commented that it is not apparent if Fong had realised the mishap and if there was any attempt to seek a second opinion.

Death was avoidable: Expert

The state coroner noted that Fong failed to accept his mistake and seek help after realising the error when he paused for 13 minutes during the surgery.

"Any reasonably competent surgeon would have realised by now too many large vessels not directly related to the kidney had been ligated and transected," Cheng said in his report.

He added that the fact that Fong had "ignor[ed] the obvious clues" and not attempted to correct the situation in the operating theatre was "incomprehensible".

The delays in taking steps to verify the mistake by CT scan and calling a vascular surgeon for help were inexcusable and could have contributed to the woman's death, Cheng found.

He also opined that the death was avoidable if the mistake was recognised, admitted sooner and immediate repair undertaken.

In his findings, the coroner also suggested that surgeons pause, verify and review their plans if they find that the landscape differed from what was expected during surgery.

The state coroner ruled the death a medical misadventure and ruled out foul play.

At the time of writing, Fong's profile is no longer listed on Raffles Hospital's urology department webpage.

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