UAE: Emirati woman awarded Dh10m in compensation for botched-up surgery

A young woman in Dubai, who suffered complications due to medical negligence during a botched-up surgical procedure, has been awarded Dh10 million in compensation for the physical and mental damages caused to her.

A civil court in Dubai has ordered the defendants, including the owner of the medical facility, a surgeon who performed the surgical procedure, an anaesthesiologist, and an anaesthesia technician, to jointly pay the amount to the Emirati lady, Rawda Al Maeeni, and her father, as compensation for the botched-up surgical procedure.

The defendants were also asked to pay the legal fee's interest at the annual rate of 9 per cent from the date of the court verdict till the time the payment was made.

Besides, they need to pay Dh1,000 as the lawyer's fee.

Court documents revealed that the victim had visited the medical facility in April 2020 after she was having difficulty in breathing. The surgeon, the second defendant in the case, told her that she suffered from an illness in the nasal septum and advised a surgical procedure.

She was operated on April 23, 2020. But the medical facility was ill-equipped for the surgical procedure that was conducted in the presence of the other defendants such as the anaesthesiologist and the anaesthesia technician.

The report of the supreme committee for medical liability held all defendants guilty for gross negligence.

In November 2020, the Dubai Court of Cassation had ruled that the appeals filed by the defendants against the judgment issued by the Court of Appeal be upheld.

The Dubai Court of Cassation upheld the lower court's judgement that the defendants were guilty, and they be sentenced to jail for a year and followed by deportation to their native countries.

The owner of the medical facility has been fined Dh300,000.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai