KUALA LUMPUR: A man has filed a medical negligence suit against a government hospital and doctors after his teenage son became permanently disabled having undergone several operations.
-Advertisement-
K Vimal Raj, 17, had his left hand below the elbow amputated, right leg below the knee cut off and the left heel and toes severed in 2019.
J Krishnasamy, who filed the suit through Messrs AJ Ariffin, Yeo & Harpal here last month, said that his son had become disabled due to the doctors’ negligence and breaches.
The health ministry, Ampang Hospital, three doctors and the government are named as defendants.
He is asking for special, aggravated, exemplary and general damages.
Krishnasamy, 46, a former lorry driver, has resigned from his job to care for Vimal. His wife, a security guard, is now the sole breadwinner.
In the statement of claim, Vimal was said to be a normal child without any critical illnesses or genetic issues, except for having an allergic reaction in his genital area prior to his admission to the hospital.
He was only diagnosed as suffering from “balanitis”, which is said to be a treatable condition that most commonly happens in uncircumcised males.
Treatment often includes antifungal creams, antibiotics, improved personal hygiene and circumcision.
On Jan 15, 2019, Vimal was admitted to Ampang Hospital but he was discharged just two days later without having fully recovered from balanitis.
He lost consciousness at his home and was immediately taken by Krishnasamy to the hospital’s emergency department for urgent medical treatment.
-Advertisement-
On Jan 23, as Vimal was still unconscious and had entered into a coma, the hospital’s medical personnel placed him in the intensive care unit.
One of the medical personnel attending to the boy instructed Krishnasamy to sign a blank consent form without clarifying the risks and type of treatment or medication they would be administering to his son.
The following day, the father noticed that Vimal’s toes and hands were becoming dark and turning black, and had also become swollen.
However, Krishnasamy said the hospital’s medical personnel failed, refused and neglected to provide any information to him on his son’s worsening condition.
Between March 15 and Nov 26, 2019, the boy’s left arm below the elbow, right leg below the knee, and the heel and toes of the left foot were amputated causing him to suffer severe disabilities.
Krishnasamy said following Vimal’s admission to Ampang Hospital on Jan 23, the medical staff had diagnosed his son with multiple diseases such as cancer, HIV, tuberculosis and peripheral gangrene involving the left upper limb and bilateral lower limb.
However, the father said to date, the hospital had failed to provide reports or a diagnosis of the said diseases.
The hospital also failed to make a proper diagnosis of Vimal’s alleged illnesses, the failure of which caused him to be prescribed with various types of medications without recognising the origin of the disease he was suffering from.
The hospital initially refused to provide full particulars of the treatment and medication given to the boy.
On Jan 8 this year, High Court Judge Ahmad Bache ordered the ministry and the hospital to provide Krishnasamy reports, notes, records and consent forms within 14 days.
The judge also ordered the hospital and the government to file their defence by Jan 22.- FMT