A 16-year-old teenager was awarded RM4.1 million after the Johor Bahru High Court ruled in his favour regarding a lawsuit over a caesarean procedure that left him permanently disabled.
This comes after the judge found that a doctor and the owner of a private maternity home were liable for medical negligence and ordered them to pay up.
16yo M’sian boy awarded RM4.1mil for delayed C-section
According to NST, the boy’s mother, who filed the lawsuit on his behalf in 2020, was at the privately run maternity clinic on Sept 28, 2009.
Court documents showed she had sought help at around 10am, where the doctor advised a C-section be done as the umbilical cord was wrapped around her baby’s neck. However, the procedure was only done at 7pm.
On Oct 1, 2009, the mother sent her newborn to the Sultanah Aminah Hospital at 5.30am after he displayed signs of lethargy, poor sucking reflex, and breathing difficulty.
Doctors later diagnosed him with severe hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) and infection. Subsequent assessments also found that he had suffered permanent brain damage due to the delayed C-section.
The newborn’s health continued to decline despite a temporary discharge and he was referred to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital, where a consultant child neurologist confirmed the extent of the injury.
In her written judgement, Nurulhuda said the doctor was personally liable for breaching his duty of care to both mother and child, and found the maternity clinic owner liable for the negligence that occurred on their premises.
As such, she ordered them to pay:
- RM600,000 in general damages
- RM3.5 million for future rehabilitation care
- RM80,000 for emotional distress and anxiety (to the teen’s mother)
- RM100,000 in costs
The defendants have since filed an appeal against the court’s decision.
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