Attorney: Plaintiff may have exaggerated the truth

Defence attorney Douglas Mendes suggested during his cross-examination of the woman who filed a civil suit against  Dr Earl Brewster that she may have exaggerated the truth on several occasions when giving her testimony. Dorean Dyall, a 45-year-old legal clerk, filed a civil suit against Dr Earl Brewster and Stanley’s Medical Clinic Limited for medical negligence, and is claiming damages of $85,000. In a previous testimony, Dyall said that she had tubal surgery in June 1995 to remove fibroids and a splint was placed in her fallopian tubes to prevent blockage. She testified that the instrument used to remove the splint was two-feet in length. Yesterday at the Port-of-Spain Fifth Civil Court, Dyall looked at a picture of an instrument presented to her by Mendes and agreed that it looked like the instrument that was used by Dr Brewster to remove the splint. Mendes then put it to her that the instrument was one-foot in length and not two feet. Dyall denied that she was exaggerating but said, “It might have been so.” Dyall said that Dr Brewster performed two surgeries on her, one in 1995 and in 1998. She admitted to signing consent forms before the surgeries were performed and by signing, had authorised Dr Brewster to perform the operation “and any such operation or procedure that is considered therapeutically necessary on the basis of the findings during the course of the said operation.” Dyall said that she did not fully understand the authorisation form, but did not indicate that to anyone. Dyall admitted that after the surgery in 1995, she continued to suffer from fibroids and had developed a condition known as bacterial vaginosis and then testified in Court that she thought she had received an infection from her husband but later retracted the statement.

She did, however, admit that she knew that the type of infection she had could cause the fallopian tubes to be blocked. Dyall had also previously testified that Dr Brewster had told her that her left ovarian cyst was as “large as a grapefruit.” Mendes then told her that Dr. Brewster instructed him that he never said that her cyst was as large as a grapefruit, but that her left ovary was. Mendes said that according to the ultrasound supervised by Dr Brewster, Dyall had a “15-week uterus” which was the only thing that could be the size of a grapefruit. Dyall denied that she had misunderstood Dr Brewster and he recommended that she have her left ovarian cyst removed but did not give any reasons why. Dyall said that from her own research, she knew that her womb may be removed from such a surgery. She denied that Dr Brewster had discussed with her a possibility of a hysterectomy if malignancy was found. Dyall is represented by attorneys Odai Ramishchand and Nisha Persad; Brewster is represented by Shabiki Cazabon and Stanley’s Medical Clinic Limited is represented by Simeon De La Bastide and Lisa Fulchan. The case continues on Monday before Justice Mark Mohammed.