Mom sues and wins for dead baby

A HIGH Court judge has ordered the South-West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) to pay damages to a Penal woman whose baby died after it was delivered prematurely by doctors at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH). Justice Carol Gobin on Monday ordered that the hospital pay an undisclosed sum of money to the 32-year-old housewife after SWRHA accepted liability for the incident. SWRHA attorney Khemraj Harrikissoon, instructed by Harrikissoon and Company Ltd, conceded that the hospital doctors were wrong and entered into a consent order. Senior Counsel Avery Sinanan and Shawn Roopnarine, instructed by Roopnarine and Company Ltd, entered appearances on behalf of the plaintiff.

The housewife sued the hospital for damages, for negligence and breach of statutory duty for the incident, which occurred seven years ago. In a writ filed by attorney Ted Roopnarine, the Penal housewife said that on the advice of SFGH’s doctors, a Caesarean section was performed on her. However, she was told the next day that the surgery was a mistake since the ultra-sound dates were erroneously recorded. The woman was 25 years old when she became pregnant, and two months into the pregnancy she was warded after experiencing bleeding, she took the advice of the hospital staff to join the antenatal clinic. She said the doctors and hospital staff undertook to provide general treatment and advice in pregnancy and delivery, and she continued to attend clinic every two weeks for antenatal treatment.

On July 27, 1998, when she was about 33 weeks pregnant, she was examined by hospital doctors and was advised and assured that the baby was due. The woman said when she complained to the doctor that her baby was not due until another two to three months, the doctor responded to her with words to the effect, “Are you the doctor or me?” She was given a letter of admission into the hospital and, within days of the visit, she was admitted on August 3, 1998. The next day, just before the surgery, the woman said she was anxious to ensure that the C-section was necessary at the time or stage and asked her doctor if he was sure that her baby was due. Again she was assured that the baby was ready to be delivered, and the C-section was performed. 

However, when she awoke and enquired about her new baby, she was told by a doctor that there had been a mistake since she was only six months and three weeks pregnant, and the baby had to be incubated. The woman said the doctor told her there was a mistake in the recording of ultrasound dates, since a nurse had recorded 27 weeks instead of 19 weeks, and the mistake was realised during the operation. When she asked if the baby would survive, the doctor said he did not know, but that if the baby was delivered at seven months it would have had a better chance of survival.

The woman said doctors also tied her fallopian tubes as advised by them during their advice and treatment, and also after she and her husband decided they did not want more than two children. On August 7, 1998, she was discharged from hospital, leaving her baby in an incubator at the hospital. The next day she and her husband received a telephone call informing them that the baby had died. On arrival at the hospital, she was told by a female doctor that the baby had died.