The Kuala Lumpur High Court has ordered for a 3-year-old girl to be paid RM5.6 million in compensation for the medical negligence of a government hospital that had left the victim paralysed.
Nur Adeena Mohd Syahmir, who was born on May 12, 2020, through a Caesarean section (C-section) procedure suffered a spinal cord injury following surgery complications, which in turn left her paralysed from the neck down.
According to a report by Harian Metro, the girl as a plaintiff through her father, filed a medical negligence suit against 19 defendants consisting of the Malaysian government and 18 medical officers working at the government hospital.
As a result of that negligence, at this time, the plaintiff is dependent on a ventilator and also has a tracheostomy (a hole in the neck) installed.
The first defendant, the Malaysian government, admitted liability on July 26, 2022, causing the plaintiff to withdraw all claims against the second to 19th defendants.
The trial continued for the assessment of damages, which lasted for 2 days where the investigation found that the medical officer on duty had no experience in performing surgeries and the C-section procedure was performed without the supervision of obstetricians and gynecologists.
Judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir shared that no amount of money can reduce the pain and suffering of the child.
“The court is of the view that the amount of damages awarded is necessary as compensation for the additional expenses that will be incurred by the guardian in caring for the differently-abled plaintiff,” he added.
They ultimately ruled that the child is entitled to adequate compensation for the rest of her life, which may very well only be until the age of 23, as concluded by a specialist doctor.
It is truly scary to know that a life can be so severely affected by the negligence of medical personnel.
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