PETALING JAYA: Two obstetrics specialists landed in trouble after leaving a critically bleeding patient, who subsequently died, just to go for a drink. The High Court here ordered the maternity centre to pay RM6mil to the deceased's family.
Judge Norliza Othman delivered the decision after finding Dr M Shanmugam, Dr A Ravi, and nurses Izaniey Nataliah Jukimin, Nur Aida Mat Isa, and Nessy Yasah guilty of medical negligence, which resulted in the patient’s death while under their care.
According to Sinar Harian, In the judgment uploaded to the judicial system on Thursday (Jan 9), Norliza said that during proceedings, the court was told that M Punita, after delivering her second child, began to experience severe bleeding after her placenta was removed.
She added that assurances were given that the patient was stable, following which the two doctors left the delivery room and placed the deceased under the care of three unregistered nurses.
The judge noted that although the nurses were not qualified by the Health Ministry, they were tasked with monitoring the patient’s condition.
“However, the deceased’s mother found that her daughter was bleeding heavily, and the nurses tried to stop it by using cotton.
“The patient was later transferred to Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang (HTAR) in critical condition.
“Despite undergoing emergency surgery and a blood transfusion, Punita passed away due to massive blood loss and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC),” she said.
The judge remarked that although the doctors had extensive experience in obstetrics, they failed to consider common complications associated with childbirth, such as eclampsia and placenta-related issues leading to postpartum haemorrhage (PPH).
She also criticised the doctors for neglecting the patient’s condition.
“This tragic incident could have been prevented if the two doctors had acted swiftly by transferring her to HTAR and closely monitoring the patient’s condition, instead of leaving her in the care of nurses while Dr Ravi went out for a drink.
“This level of neglect is unforgivable as it contributed to the death of a healthy mother,” she said.
Following the ruling, the court awarded the deceased’s family RM5,993,936 in damages.
This included RM500,000 for the deceased’s pain and suffering, RM1mil for each of her two children, and RM300,000 for each of her parents.
Other costs included aggravated damages from Dr Ravi (RM1.5mil) and Dr Shanmugam (RM700,000), as well as punitive damages from the clinic (RM100,000).
On 9 January, 2019, Punita, aged 36 at the time, died a few hours after giving birth at the Shan Maternity and Obstetrics Centre owned by Dr Shanmugam due to PPH.
In this case, the deceased’s family was represented by lawyer K Renuka from the law firm V Samy Renu & Co.
