Thursday November 19, 2009
RM72,000 for boy with limb injury
By K. KASTURI DEWI
GEORGE TOWN: A factory worker who sued a private hospital after her new-born son was left permanently disabled after being delivered by forceps was awarded RM72,000 in general damages by a Sessions Court.
Sessions judge Zainol Rashid Hussain in allowing the claim by S. Manonmoney, 45, held that obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Quah Thong Sai of Lam Wah Ee Hospital had been negligent in causing the injury to A. Selvha, now nine, during delivery.
Injured at birth: Selvha showing his deformed limb. Manonmoney had filed the suit on behalf of Selvha naming the hospital’s public officer Datuk Ong Gim Huat as the first defendant and Dr Quah as second defendant.
In her statement of claim, Manonmoney said her son had been delivered by “external manipulation” and, or by the use of forceps which had caused injuries, pain and agony to her baby at about 9.50pm on Dec 31, 2000.
She alleged that as a result of the extraction, Selvha is now deformed in the left arm as the force exerted on the baby’s head and neck during delivery had stretched the plexus.
“Although my son is mentally normal and attends kindergarten, he is permanently unable to use his left upper limb and will not be able to find employment in the future,” Manonmoney said in her statement.
She had sought RM50,584.25 in special damages, general damages, interest, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court.
In his testimony, Dr Quah said he had advised Manonmoney to have Selvha, her second child, delivered by vacuum extraction due to poor maternal effort in pushing the baby.
Manonmoney and Selvha were represented by R. Subramaniam, Dr Quah by J. J. Chan and Nga Mei Yen while Rajivan Nambiar appeared for Ong.
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