KUALA LUMPUR: A negligence suit filed by a father on behalf of his teenage son whose limbs were amputated at a government hospital four years ago will go to trial in November after attempts to settle the case came to nought.
J Krishnasamy’s lawyer, Harwinder Kaur, said the government was reluctant to settle the suit out of court.
Judicial commissioner Su Tiang Joo, who has taken over the matter from Justice Ahmad Bache, has fixed trial dates for Nov 6 to 8 and Nov 13 to 16.
“The government, through a senior federal counsel, wrote to us saying the issue of liability and quantum of damages should be litigated,” Harwinder told FMT after case management before Su today.
At a previous case management last year, Ahmad had called on the parties to explore a settlement to avoid having to go through a trial.
Following the stand adopted by the government, a mediation of the case, scheduled for May 30, was called off.
Harwinder said Su has given the plaintiff and the defendants until Sept 30 to file additional expert reports for the court’s consideration.
All other pre-trial directives have been complied with by both parties, she said.
Another case management will be held on June 19.
In a statement of claim filed in December 2020, Krishnasamy listed multiple amputations performed on his son.
Vimal Raj, 19, is now without his left hand below the elbow, right leg below the knee and the heel, and toes on his left foot.
The health ministry, Ampang Hospital, three doctors, and the government have been named as defendants.
Krishnasamy claimed this was due to the doctors’ negligence and breaches of duty. He is asking for special, aggravated, exemplary and general damages.
He said Vimal Raj was a normal child without any critical illnesses or genetic disorders, except for having an allergic reaction in his genitalia before his admission to the hospital.
He was only diagnosed as suffering from “balanitis”, which is said to be a treatable condition that commonly happens in uncircumcised males.
The father said the surgeries, conducted between March 15 and Nov 26, 2019, caused Vimal Raj to suffer severe disabilities.
The defendants claim the boy’s condition was due to his parents’ negligence.
They listed several examples of this alleged negligence, among which were the failure to properly provide the boy’s medical history, failure to ensure his health was taken care of when he was at home or outside, as well as failure to ensure that he took antibiotics and antiviral medication given by the hospital.