Two million dirhams in compensation for the husband and two children of a woman who died due to a serious medical error

The Civil Court of First Instance in Dubai ruled to oblige a private hospital and four doctors working for it to compensate the husband and two children of a Gulf woman who died during childbirth in the amount of two million dirhams, after it was proven that they had committed a serious medical error that led to her death, and a final criminal ruling was issued convicting them and punishing them with a fine and paying the legal blood money to the heirs of the deceased.

The details of the lawsuit, as confirmed by the court and stated in its papers, are that the plaintiff filed the lawsuit in his personal capacity, and in his capacity as the legal guardian of his two minor children, demanding compensation for the material, moral, and psychological damages suffered by him and his two children, as a result of the death of his wife inside the defendant hospital during childbirth.

The lawsuit papers stated that the deceased was pregnant with her second child through artificial insemination, which, according to medical reports, required special care and careful follow-up, given the sensitivity of the medical condition and the possibility of exposure to complications after birth.

She indicated that the deceased was admitted to the hospital under the supervision of the medical staff, but after giving birth she suffered severe bleeding, which was not treated with the necessary speed and efficiency, despite the clarity of the seriousness of the condition, which led to the deterioration of her health condition and her death.

It was proven to the court, according to the report of the Supreme Committee for Medical Responsibility issued by the Dubai Health Authority, that the medical care provided to the deceased was below the required level, and that the medical staff did not succeed in dealing appropriately with postpartum hemorrhage in a timely manner, which the committee considered a direct cause of death, confirming the presence of a serious medical error.

The committee explained in its report that the error was not merely a possible medical complication, but rather represented negligence and failure to follow recognized medical procedures.

The percentages of error incurred by the four doctors were determined, with the doctor supervising the case bearing the largest percentage of responsibility, while the remaining percentages were distributed among the medical staff members involved in following up on the case.

The incident was referred to the criminal judiciary, and the court convicted the four doctors on charges of serious medical error, fined each of them 50,000 dirhams, and obliged them to pay the deceased’s heirs a legal blood money, and referred the civil case to the competent court.

The doctors appealed the criminal ruling before the Court of Appeal, which ruled to reject the appeals and uphold the ruling. It also rejected the appeals submitted, so that the criminal ruling became final and final.

In the merits of its ruling, the civil court confirmed that the final criminal ruling has authority before it in what was decided in a necessary section regarding the proof of the medical error and attributing it to its perpetrators, based on the text of Article (269) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

She pointed out that the legislator obligated those practicing the medical profession to adhere to the recognized scientific and technical principles in accordance with Article Three of Federal Decree Law No. (4) of 2016 regarding medical liability.

She explained that it is legally stipulated that a medical error is grave if it causes the death of the patient, when this is coupled with severe negligence or unjustified deviation from recognized medical rules, which was present in the incident in question, according to the conclusions of the Supreme Committee for Medical Liability.

She confirmed that the damage suffered by the plaintiffs was not limited to the financial aspect, but included moral and psychological damage resulting from the loss of a wife and mother, which is within the scope of compensation.

Regarding the hospital’s responsibility, the court stated that the medical facility bears subsidiary responsibility for the actions of its doctors, as they are subordinate to it and work under its administrative and technical supervision, in accordance with Article (174) of the Civil Transactions Law, which stipulates that the subordinate is responsible for the illegal actions of his subordinate.

Regarding the request to include the insurance company as an adversary in the case, the court ruled that it was not accepted, due to not following the path set by the law by submitting the insurance dispute to the competent insurance dispute settlement committee before resorting to the judiciary.

The court estimated the compensation for the material and moral damages suffered by the plaintiffs at two million dirhams, and distributed financial responsibility to the defendants, each in proportion to his fault.