48-year-old Seung Jun Chin, died in November 2021 after a game of golf at Sentosa and his wife raised questions about whether his death was caused by the Covid booster shot that he took about 3 weeks before.
State Coroner Adam Nakhoda said in his report on Wednesday that Seung’s death was caused by coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease, and there was no evidence to suggest that his death was caused by the vaccination, according to The Straits Times.
Seung took his Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty booster shot on 6 November 2021 and complained to his wife about chest paints a few times, but didn’t seek medical attention.
He then went to Sentosa Golf Club on 27 November with three of his friends and played 18 holes of golf, and his friends reported that he didn’t exhibit any signs of illness, discomfort or fatigue during the game of golf.
However, 4 hours after the game, Seung suddenly sat down while climbing the stairs to the clubhouse, saying that he was tired and wanted to rest.
The assistant golf executive of the club was then informed and Seung declined for an ambulance to be called or to be moved into an aircon room.
But when Seung collapsed on the staircase, an ambulance was then called.
An SCDF operator instructed the assistant golf executive to check Seung’s breathing and pulse, which had stopped and the executive then took Seung to the ground level and performed CPR on him.
The CPR commenced about 7 minutes after Seung’s collapse, and he regained a weak pulse after being defibrillated.
But as he was conveyed to Singapore General Hospital, he didn’t have a pulse and eventually died at the hospital despite efforts to resuscitate him.
Seung’s heart was noted to be twice the size of an adult male’s during his autopsy.
The State Coroner added that it was highly improbable that Seiung’s coronary artery disease developed in time after his booster dose, and that it would have taken time to manifest.
Seung’s wife said that he was on medication after being diagnosed with high blood pressure 4 years before his death, but State Coroner Nakhoda said that he was either taken off his medication or had stopped his medication after seeing improvements in his condition.
He said that “unfortunately, it was likely that Mr Seung continued to have high blood pressure that was not controlled by medication.”
Seung’s wife also questioned the staff members at the golf course for taking so long to take Seung to a flat surface and commence CPR on him.
State Coroner Nakhoda said that in such situations, the casualty should’ve been moved to a flat surface as soon as possible after breathing has stopped.
He added that the CPR should’ve been commenced straight away if there were trained people available, or if they are instructed on how to perform it by the SCDF operator.
For Seung’s case, he said that the golf staff should’ve immediately retrieved the nearest AED after Seung’s collapse, but added that “whether there would have been a different outcome had CPR been started on Mr Seung earlier or had he been administered with shocks from the AED sooner is highly speculative.”