Sick hospital pays fine for wrong diagnosis

 

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Malindi court has objected  Malindi Sub-County hospital  proposal of paying parents of the minor patient KSh 200,000 for wrong medications.

Parents of the minor patient sued the hospital for damages, they argued their daughter suffered untold pain due to the wrong medication she received.

The complainants accused medics at the facility for wrongly inserting intravenous (IV) line in the minor’s scalp

How ever defendant proposed to pay the  family KSh 200,000 as cost for damages

Hearing the case, Judge Weldon Korir rejected the proposal and instead ordered   the defendants to pay half a million fine

The judge said the hospital failed to take due care and diligence when attending to the minor Malindi Sub-County hospital, formerly Malindi District hospital, has been slapped with KSh 500,000 fine for allegedly administering wrong medication to a minor. Malindi High Court ordered the health facility to pay Goko Kimani and Lucy Wanjohi, parents of the minor, the said amount for damages caused to their daughter who allegedly suffered untold pain after medics at the sub-county hospital gave her wrong treatment.

The judge added the minor had suffered a soft tissue injury resulting in a scar and that hair had not grown at the site of the scar. The minor’s parents, however, did not make any proposal on the damages they wanted to be awarded. The hospital, on the other hand, proposed KSh 200,000 as the cost of damages suffered by the minor patient. The judge rejected the proposed amount. “Looking at how the wound took too long to heal, the ugly scar left after the healing and the psychological impact the same will have on the plaintiff, I find an award of KSh 500,000 ideal as general damages in the circumstances of this case,” Korir ruled.

However the new Health Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 makes it compulsory for medical practitioners to take a professional indemnity cover and will also require that every health institution take up an annual insurance against professional liability of its staff.

The insurance demand comes as Kenya witnesses an increase in medical malpractice which attributed to a shortage of doctors and equipment.

Data from the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board reveals that cases lodged against gynaecologists and obstetrician are the highest among the complaints officially made.

The cost of negligence by a number of doctors has left a trail of painful experience among families. Court records indicate that more than 10 hospitals have since 2012 been ordered to pay Sh38 million for their doctors’ blunders.

 

 

 

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