Minister of Finance Karen Nunez-Teshiera turned up at the Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain, yesterday for the hearing of the lawsuit she filed against Gulf View Medical Centre, in which she is seeking $20 million in compensation for the death of her husband, former national footballer Russell Teshiera. But the matter was adjourned to May 27, three days after the general election, in which Teshiera is hoping to be returned as the Member of Parliament for the constituency of D’Abadie/O’Meara. Teshiera, along with her attorneys, appeared before Master Brenda Paray-Durity in the Port-of-Spain High Court but the matter was adjourned. 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, Tesheira is suing the medical clinic, based in La Romaine, a top urologist and an anesthesiologist, alleging that 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 there was no reasonable cause of action against them. 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.
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. Tesheira, Clico’s vice-president of sales and agencies administration, died on April 13, 2004, shortly after undergoing surgery. He was also at one time captain of the national men’s football team. Douglas Mendes SC and Nyree Alfonso are representing Tesheira while Kemraj Harrikissoon appears for Gulf View Medical Centre and Roopchand, while Michael Hamel-Smith appears for Goetz.