Compensation
A man has won Dh1 million in compensation following a botched hip joint replacement surgery which ended with one leg four centimeters shorter than the other.
However, the Appeal Court will look into the initial claim of Dh10 million next month.
The Emirati claimant, who suffered severe pain in his left and right hips, was said to have visited a Dubai-based medical clinic where a specialised doctor recommended that he undergo a joint replacement surgery in his hips.
Following the surgery, the Emirati said he became bound to a wheelchair as his pain increased and he suffered paralysis in the muscles of his thighs and his left leg became 4cm shorter than the right leg, according to records.
The patient’s lawyer, Abdullah Al Nasser, of Araa Group of Advocates and Legal Consultants, sent two legal notices to the doctor, the clinic and the hospital where the surgery took place, asking them to compensate his client following the botched surgery and medical malpractice.
After failing to reach an amicable settlement, Al Nasser lodged a civil lawsuit before the Dubai Civil Court in which he sought Dh10 million in compensation to be paid by the three defendants [doctor, clinic and hospital] to his client.
“The doctor alleged, following the surgery, that it succeeded. Yet my client suffered paralysis in the nerves and became wheelchair-bound. The surgery increased his pain rather than stopping it. The claimant visited several specialists afterwards and he was told that the surgery had failed… when he went for several other opinions, doctors confirmed to him that he had been subject to malpractice. He also sustained a permanent disability and disfigurement,” Al Nasser said in his lawsuit before the court.
Despite having sent two legal notices to the defendants to reach an amicable settlement, the defendants refused to cooperate, the lawyer argued before the court. When Al Nasser lodged the civil lawsuit at the Dubai Courts Department, the case was referred to the Centre for Amicable Settlements of Disputes [CASD] that commissioned a medical committee to look into the case.
The committee decided that the Emirati patient had suffered rheumatism in his joints since childhood and that the surgery he underwent was botched.
In its report before the CASD, the committee mentioned that the claimant suffered medical malpractice and negligence and was left with a 30 per cent permanent disability.
However, the CASD referred the case to court after failing to reach an amicable settlement.
The defendants’ lawyers countered the patient’s claims and asked the court to dismiss the case.
The Civil Court dismissed the case against the hospital.
Meanwhile, the doctor and the clinic and an insurance company [where the claimant was insured] were ordered to pay Dh1 million in compensation to the Emirati against his medical, emotional, financial and moral damages.