UAE: Hospital, doctor to pay couple Dh1.3 million for botched C-section

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Photo (for illustrative purposes): Alamy
Photo (for illustrative purposes): Alamy

Abu Dhabi - An official report said the doctor made a serious medical error, which resulted in a 100 per cent disability.

by

Ismail Sebugwaawo

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Published: Sun 24 Jan 2021, 9:45 AM

Last updated: Sun 24 Jan 2021, 9:46 AM

A hospital and a doctor that caused a woman to go into a coma while giving birth due to medical negligence during a caesarian operation, have been told to pay the patient and her husband Dh1.3 million in damages.

The Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal upheld an earlier ruling by a lower court which ordered the hospital and its doctor to pay the amount to the Arab woman and her husband in compensation for the physical, moral and material damages they suffered.


Official court documents revealed that the patient’s husband had filed a lawsuit against the doctor and the hospital for medical negligence during a C-section operation that almost claimed the life of his wife.

He said in his lawsuit that his wife went to the hospital to give birth upon experiencing labour pains. She had no previous history of serious illness. When she failed to deliver normally, a caesarean section was performed for her under general anaesthesia. However, at the end of the operation, her heart stopped and she went into a coma.


She stayed in the ICU for days, supported by life support machines and fed through the gastric tube.

The man said what happened to his wife was the result of a medical error on the part of the doctor, the first defendant in the case, as a lot of anaesthesia was used on her without taking into account her health condition, which caused her to go into a coma. He said his wife suffered physical and psychological damages, depriving his children of their mother.

A medical report by the Supreme Committee for Medical Responsibility said the doctor made a serious medical error and had failed to follow the medical principles and rules when he anaesthetised the patient, which resulted in a 100 per cent disability.

The report said the doctor had tried to administer spinal anaesthesia to the patient several times but it didn’t work on her — and h didn’t bother to seek help from another anaesthesiologist. This exposed the patient to a lack of oxygen in the brain.

The husband had demanded that the doctor and the hospital jointly pay him and his wife for the material and moral damages they suffered as result of the botched treatment.

The Court of First Instance had earlier ruled that they pay the woman Dh1 million and another Dh300, 000 to the husband in compensation to the damages the couple suffered.

Both the hospital and the doctor challenged the ruling, but the Court of Appeal rejected their appeal and maintained the first ruling.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com


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