The Supreme Court has upheld a lower court's ruling, ordering Bumrungrad Hospital Plc and two of its doctors to pay one million baht compensation to a mother whose son was born with disabilities.
The ruling has put an end to a 11-year civil lawsuit which was lodged with the Phra Khanong Provincial Court on Sept 20, 2007 by Prapaporn (surname withheld), 45, demanding more than 390 million baht compensation. In its ruling the Supreme Court instructed the hospital, Dechapong Phucharoen, an obstetrician-gynecologist, and Orachart Udompanit, a radiologist, to pay one million baht to the mother. The amount is also subject to annual interest of 7.5%, which will be calculated from the date the lawsuit was filed, on Sept 20, 2007.
According to the lawsuit, Ms Prapaporn demanded 390 million baht in compensation from the hospital and the doctors because they were never informed of possibility of the foetus' abnormalities during her pregnancy. Ms Prapaporn who sought prenatal care service from the hospital, claimed she underwent an ultrasound test and was told her baby was healthy. However, the baby boy, who is now 12, was born with no legs. In December 2009, the Phra Khanong provincial court found the hospital and the doctors negligent and awarded the 12 million compensation to Ms Prapaporn plus annual interest of 7.5%.
According to the court, the doctors had failed to inform the mother of possible treatment when detecting the abnormalities. However, the court did not award the compensation demanded because the claim lacked sufficient grounds. The ruling was appealed and the Appeal Court ordered the defendants to pay one million baht compensation subject to interest of 7.5%.
In a separate case Wednesday, Nonthaburi court dismissed the case of a mother whose child has cerebral palsy and who sued doctors in Nakhon Ratchasima. They told her to sign documents saying she would only accept compensation from the National Health Security Office (NHSO) and would not petition further.
Ms Suthathip, 20, sued Saharat Chartphrom, a doctor who acted as an arbitrator of Maharaj Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital, as well as the Office of the Permanent Secretary of Public Health Ministry, and the NHSO, calling for 1 million baht in compensation for deception.
After a cardiac operation on March 1, 2016, her child's heart stopped as he was being moved from the operation room to another room. He stopped breathing, which caused the cerebral palsy. He was unconscious for 20 days.
On May 17, the doctor asked the mother to sign documents to receive 280,000 baht compensation from the NHSO. The documents included a receipt and an arbitration contract which said she must not take the case to court or the media.
She learned later that to receive the compensation from the NHSO, she did not need to sign the contract.
She then sued the defendants for deception and asked for 1 million baht compensation.
The court said Ms Suthathip did not have the right to sue Dr Saharat who was the arbitrator but she had to sue the government agencies for the damage to her son.
However, in this particular case, the court said that as the doctor did not force or threaten her to sign and he did not represent the two agencies, her contract had no legal binding on the 2nd and 3rd defendants. Ms Suthathip still has the right to call for further compensation, and has filed a civil lawsuit.