Williston doctor cleared in lawsuit

A Williston urologist and his practice was cleared in civil defamation lawsuit that came from another doctor who assisted him in a kidney removal operation four years ago.

Dr. Salem Shahin was found not guilty of defamation by a civil jury April 28, according to court documents from the Northwest District Clerk of Court's Office. The defamation allegations came from former Williston physician/surgeon Dr. Inder Khoka.

Khoka, who now practices in Jamestown, was a physician with Mercy Medical Center at the time of the February 2004 surgery.

Khoka alleged in his lawsuit that Shahin had wrongly told the family of Rose Chamley that Khoka had ripped her right kidney out during a follow-up operation and with it, the vena cava, (a large vein carrying deoxygenated blood into the heart from the lower body).

Chamley had undergone surgery to remove kidney stones from her right kidney. According to court files, she was taken to a recovery area at Mercy Medical Center, but complications arose as medical staff determined she was bleeding when she shouldn't be.

Court files indicate that Shahin then returned Chamley back to the operating table to remedy the bleeding. Shahin determined the right kidney would need to be removed, and he requested Khoka assist him in that procedure.

In the process of the removing the kidney, court records show the vena cava was torn.

A few days later, Chamley died after the two operations in early February of 2004.

Khoka alleges that Shahin had invited William and Monica Chamley to Shahin's home. Khoka stated in the lawsuit Shahin told the Chamleys that Khoka had torn the right kidney in two pieces and tore the vena cava in the process. Khoka stated that after Shahin met with the Chamleys, they filed the lawsuit and this affected his practice in Williston.

Jury members and court records showed there was no malice found in statements made by Shahin to the Chamleys. Witnesses, who had heard Shahin explain the complications, stated that Shahin had only said the vena cava was torn during the removal of the kidney, not that the kidney had been torn in two pieces.

They added that Shahin, giving these statements to the Chamleys, was not intended to displace blame, but to explain why the reason for the death since Shahin had treated her for a long time.

The lawsuit against Shahin was dismissed by court order.

The Chamleys lawsuit against Khoka was initially dismissed, in accordance with the North Dakota Good Samaritan Law, which applies under certain conditions when a physician is called to assist in an emergency. Northwest District Judge David W. Nelson approved the dismissal.

Shortly after the dismissal of the lawsuit, Khoka filed to recover over $11,000 in legal fees he accumulated since the Chamleys filing of the lawsuit.

The Chamleys appealed the dismissal of the lawsuit against Khoka. The North Dakota Supreme Court has ordered the dismissal of the lawsuit be remanded.

A new court date for the negligence lawsuit with a nine-person jury trial against Khoka has been tentatively rescheduled for Aug. 11-15 and Aug. 18-21 of this year in Northwest District Court.