UAE: Woman who lost teeth due to medical error to get Dh50,000 payout from clinic

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Al Ain - The patient said she had paid Dh25,000 for a dental veneers service.

A Staff Reporter

Published: Mon 1 Feb 2021, 4:33 PM

Last updated: Mon 1 Feb 2021, 4:34 PM

A woman who lost her teeth due to a medical error that occurred while receiving treatment has been awarded Dh50,000 in compensation for the damages.

The Al Ain Appeals Court upheld an earlier ruling by a lower court, which instructed a dental treatment centre in the city to pay the money to the Arab woman as compensation for the physical, material and moral damages she suffered due to the loss of some of her teeth due to medical negligence.

The woman explained in her lawsuit that she had visited the dental clinic because for a teeth-cleaning session. However, a doctor there told her that her teeth needed to be fitted with lenses (dental veneers), something she agreed to.

Dental veneers are thin ceramic sheets that are custom made and chemically cemented on the surface of the tooth, in order to change its colour, position, size and shape, thus achieving an attractive smile.

The patient said she had paid Dh25,000 for the dental veneers service.

After a few days had passed, however, the woman said she started feeling pain in her teeth and was unable to eat anything.

She said when she went back to the dental clinic, the doctor only increased her suffering when he tried to adjust the veneers, which caused her to lose some of her teeth as they just fell out.

The woman said she later took X-rays and it was found that the doctor who treated her made a mistake while placing the lenses onto her teeth.

In her lawsuit, the woman said the medical error had caused her lose her teeth, which distorted her appearance. She said she suffered psychological pain and incurred treatment expenses.

The woman submitted medical reports from two other dental treatment centres confirming that the treatments provided to her by the accused dental centre was badly done and caused many damages to her teeth.

As part of its defense, the dental clinic had submitted a memorandum to the court, in which it denied that its doctor made a mistake in treating the patient. The medical centre had also asked the judge to dismiss the case.

A medical committee that was assigned by court to investigate the matter did not provide a conclusive report in the case. The committee said it had found that the woman had earlier treated her teeth at a different clinic before seeking treatment in this one — and that it was hard to verify whether there was a medical error in the treatment provided previously by the first clinic or whether the error occurred during the final treatment.

The Court of First Instance had based its verdict on the evidence presented by the woman and ordered the dental clinic to compensate her Dh50,000 in addition to paying the legal expenses. The dental clinic challenged the verdict, but the appeal court judge rejected the appeal and maintained the first ruling.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com