Nunez-Tesheira $20M lawsuit put off to April 9

Nunez-Tesheira filed the lawsuit seeking more than $20 million in compensation for the “loss and damage” suffered upon the death of her late husband, Clico insurance executive Russell Tesheira in 2004.

According to documents filed in the Port-of-Spain Civil Court Registry, Nunez-Tesheira is suing a medical clinic based in La Romaine, a top urologist and an anesthesiologist, alleging negligence caused her husband’s death.

The Finance Minister has named Gulf View Medical Centre, urologist Dr Lester Goetz and anesthesiologist Dr Crisen Jendra Roopchand as defendants. In separate defences filed in response to the claims made by Nunez-Tesheira, the defendants denied the allegations, noting that there was no reasonable cause of action against them.

Nunez-Tesheira, the widow and executrix of the estate of Russell Tesheira brought the action on behalf of his estate under the Supreme Court of Judicature Act and for the benefit of his dependents under the Compensation for Injuries Act.

Nunez-Tesheira has accused doctors of putting her husband at risk when they performed transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) surgery on him.

She is insisting that the procedure should not have been performed on her husband and that the doctors involved in his care ought to have been aware that heavy bleeding was a risk of the TURP procedure.

(During TURP, an instrument is inserted up the patient’s urethra to remove the section of the prostate that is blocking urine flow.)

Tesheira, Clico’s vice-president of sales and agencies administration, died on April 13, 2004, shortly after undergoing surgery. Nyree Alfonso and Douglas Mendes SC are representing Nunez-Tesheira while Kemraj Harrikissoon appears for Gulf View Medical Centre and Roopchand while Michael Hamel-Smith appears for Goetz.