Earlier, the Court of Misdemeanours had ordered that the hospital pay Dh3 million in compensation to the 28-year-old Iraqi who became paralysed in the course of a series of surgeries aimed at increasing the length of her right leg.

According to the case papers, the woman was born with her right leg shorter than her left. She originally approached the hospital to increase her right leg to the same length as the left.

However, the surgery caused her right leg to become longer than the left instead. A series of corrective procedures followed, in which neurological fibres in the right leg were damaged, causing paralysis.

A compensation of Dh1.5 million 
will be paid by the hospital and its insurance company. Last week, a European general practitioner has been sentenced to a year in jail and fined Dh10,000 for a bungled delivery in January 2008 that caused the child paralysis and other crippling defects.

The hospital and its manager were also fined Dh50,000 each for allowing the doctor to practice though her licence had been revoked by the Health-Authority Abu Dhabi for prior errors.

In July, a British plastic surgeon and an Egyptian anaesthetist were jailed for a year and fined Dh 10,000 each as 
the Dubai Court of Misdemeanors found them guilty of negligently 
killing an Emirati housewife during a liposuction procedure.

mary@khaleejtimes.ae