Dubai: Court orders doctor, hospital to pay Dh800,000 compensation for medical error

The Dubai Civil Court of Appeal has ordered a doctor and a private hospital to pay Dh800,000 compensation to a victim of a medical error. The court reduced the original amount of Dh3 million in the Court of First Instance's ruling.

The appeal court reduced the compensation after the case was discussed during several judicial stages -- between the victim, a doctor and a private hospital.

According to case details, the victim visited a private hospital after suffering a back pain, where the defendant doctor performed a surgical procedure to alleviate the pain, but the victim's condition worsened.

The doctor then administered injection therapy on him, but his condition continued to deteriorate. When the pain didn't subside even after a second surgery, he again got admitted to the same hospital, and was treated again with injections.

On consulting another doctor at the same hospital, the victim was told that he had received the wrong injections.

The victim's brother then filed a complaint against the doctor and the first hospital in the Medical City Authority.

A committee was formed to investigate the matter, which ended in the doctor's license being suspended for three months. The committee found a number of fatal errors in the victim's treatment by the doctor, adding that there was no chance for his condition to improve. A remedial process would include treatment of the original pain, while also dealing with the complications resulting from the wrong treatment.

After examining the case, the court decided to amend the compensation to Dh800,000, which needs to be paid jointly by the doctor and the hospital.