Bumrungrad Hospital Ordered To Pay Bt12 Million To Mother Of Disabled Son

[george]

Bumrungrad ordered to pay Bt12 million to mother of disabled son

BANGKOK: -- A court Friday ordered the Bumrungrad Hospital Plc and two of its doctors to pay Bt12million compensation to a mother whose son was born with multiple disabilities.

Prapaporn sae Jeung, 36, and her three year old son, Sai Ker Lee, filed the Bt390million lawsuit against the three defendants on grounds that the hospital failed to alert the mother about the fetus' abnormalities during her pregnancy.

The mother had sought pre-natal care service from the hospital. She also underwent an ultrasound test in May, 2006, to check whether her baby was healthy. Back then, her pregnancy was between four and five months

Following the ultrasound test, she was told that her baby was fine.

So far, when Prapaporn gave birth to her youngest baby, she found he had no legs and a deformed right arm

Prapaporn is the wife of famous chef, Walter Lee, who has regularly appeared in a TV cooking programme.

-- The Nation 2009-12-26

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[Phil Conners]

Good to see that some reaction is beginning to happen to the lackluster performance of private hospitals in Thailand. Would be even better if also ordinary people could get justice, not just the rich and famous. But it's a start I guess.

[Jingthing]

Be careful what you wish for. These costs will just be passed on to everybody.

[Sherlocke]

This tragedy - sad to say - I believe this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Thailand medical industry.

It is a shame that it seems to have taken the efforts of someone with a bit of "clout" to suffer at there hands before it comes to light.

It is also unfortunate that many westerners seem to judge a hospital by it's furniture and equipment rather than the nature of the people who work there.

there will be literally hundreds of people who have received treatment in Thai hospitals who leave as happy, satisfied customers – after the stress of being in hospital it is only natural for people to feel relieved when they get out.........however the sad case is that even when all is well they leave with no real idea as whether the treatment they had was the most appropriate, e.g cheapest, only alternative etc........

people rely on doctors and put a huge amount of (sometimes unwarranted) trust in them - when they leave hospital they are told that if they hadn't been treated things could have been much worse - but are they as good as they should be???? - The hospitals rely on the "feelgood factor" and the ignorance of their patience to get away with "blue murder" there are few effective checks and balances in the Thai system and mistakes are either covered up or put down as "just one of those things".

Many will site the scandals in Western hospitals – but these scandals can only occur when there is and EFFECTIVE CHECKING system in place that will reveal such problems – in Thailand this does not happen.

Edited December 26, 2009 by Sherlocke

[Portlandstone]

I went there for two departments in one day thinking "great this is a chance to go to a Western hospital" in July. Was I wrong. They charge really high prices for very little to no medical service. In both depts I went to not only did I not receive any medicine, I was provided with no printout of diagnosis or any other health information -- it was just "out you go." Went to the eye doctor first, I didn't like the way he manhandled me, and there seems something peculiarly dissatisfying in his description of why the outer edges of my eyes seem soft like egg whites. He just said "don't worry, it's like the skin on the back of your hand, it just gets soft with old age." Umm, I'm 38. I also didn't like the way he suddenly jabbed a Q-tip into the bottom of my eye and pressed it in several times while chatting with the nurse. It almost seemed like the old man and I had developed a personality conflict the way he talked to me. I went back to the front desk about a half hour later after leaving his office and just asked them, sorry what was the name of the condition of my eyes the doctor said? The receptionists all started getting furious that I would return to ask about anything. Heck they could at least given me a printout of the other health info such as when they took my blood pulse and did an eye chart "exam". Apparently nothing was entered and I had no record.

The second dept I went to was the skin section. Had some bright red spots as well as some greyish brown ones of a diff texture on various places -- back, neck, arms and even on head. I swear I wasn't in his office 3 minutes, total damage 900 baht. All he did is say you can take your shirt off, he stayed seated at his desk and glanced at me from afar and said, "oh that? that's melasma. anything else, or will that be all for today?" He didn't walk over to have a close look, he didn't try to look me over other than just ask me what "spot" I was concerned about. What if there was a real cancer on my back?

Because I was on a trip to BKK at that time there was one more dept I wanted to go to get checked out. Based on the previous two unprofessionalism I skipped the third. Total damage -- for a 7 minute eye "exam" and about 45 seconds of "skin observation (from afar)" was 1,100 baht eyes and 900 baht skin doctor. That in conjunction with a previous trip to Pattaya Memorial to get knee checked for 2500 baht only to be told "we're not sure, maybe arthritis or maybe knee damage," tells me Thailand medical is not recommended. I'd like my money back.

[TAWP]

I don't understand how this could have been missed...I mean, I was counting toes on my son when we did the ultrasound...surely one would notice if it was missing both legs and an arm? Or the staff was hoping they where just misreading it and that everything would be 'ok', as to not upset the hi-so customer?

[Sherlocke]

No sources but it is not unknown in hospitals here for doctors to withhold this sort of info.

e.g.l withheld the fact that a woman's child had Down's Syndrome - saying her local doctor could inform her later.

"Not the Thai way"

[ballpoint]

As the child seems to be intellectually sound, at least there is nothing to the contrary reported, how is he going to feel as he gets older? "Of course, had we found out in time that you were abnormal, we would have aborted you and had a normal son later. As it was, we have to make do with the 12 million baht 'freak show' money".

I suggest all the bashers read "What am I doing here?" by Bruce Chatwin, in which one of the articles tells of a Spanish woman who was told by her English doctors that her unborn daughter had no arms and legs, and should be aborted. She chose to have the baby, which was born with the full complement of limbs. Food for thought.

[crocodilexp]

They charge really high prices for very little to no medical service.

For the record, I agree with you on Bumrungrad. Some doctors don't pay much attention, just take a look at you, mutter something, and kick you out without even letting you ask a question or two (which you surely are entitled to given the fees). They may be qualified, but they surely are arrogant, which does not improve the outcome. I'm under an impression that a few years back the service was better.

I found Phaya Thai to be slightly better... but it's just one visit, so a small sample (luckily!). Also, a big scam at private hospitals is the pharmacy bill as well -- if they write you a prescription the same meds can cost about a half in a private pharmacy.

Something is inherently wrong with incentives in the more-service-more-profit mode (as opposed to better-health-outcome-more-profit model).

[languageexpress]

The second dept I went to was the skin section. Had some bright red spots as well as some greyish brown ones of a diff texture on various places -- back, neck, arms and even on head. I swear I wasn't in his office 3 minutes, total damage 900 baht. All he did is say you can take your shirt off, he stayed seated at his desk and glanced at me from afar and said, "oh that? that's melasma. anything else, or will that be all for today?" He didn't walk over to have a close look, he didn't try to look me over other than just ask me what "spot" I was concerned about. What if there was a real cancer on my back?

You might want to get those spots looked at. I get annual skin cancer checks at home by a specialist, as I spent way too much time in the sun as a kid.

The doctor needs to do a close up inspection in order to check the shape, colour, edges of the spot etc. He can’t do it from behind his desk and he needs training so he knows what he’s looking for. You’re obviously concerned about it or you wouldn’t have gone to this muppet. Hopefully someone can put you in touch with a trustworthy doctor here.

I’ve had 2 cut out, I needed a few stitches, but all’s been fine since. Don’t worry yourself too much because most turn out to be nothing, or easily remedied, but don’t ignore them – get them checked out by a decent doctor early on.

[djlest]

i agree with sherlock

i was in Bangkok Hospital last week, don't get me wrong the surgeons spoke english (whoopidoo) but get this....

downstairs in the foyer was a violinist and grand pianist playing classical music to the waiting area. (i kid you not)

When you pay for somehthing its all touch screen crap and numbers and expensive futuristic (impersonal and over the top) show off crap...

i felt it was a nightmare!

i really felt like i was in some science fiction movie where everyone are robots and no one really has any compassion or personality at all.

Even blade runner looked outdated compared to this place!!!

everything is fake!!!! but i mean super fake....

bring back people, bring back doctors who don't charge by the second, bring back what life is about and not what superficial (fake smiles and nice furniture) which will only be added to your bill and the tax payers anyway...

yeah... poor Thailand's got a lot to learn...

Getting past the superficial fakeness and gold plated door knobs to define a good hospital? pffff- i don't think people understand unless they live here and know the mentality that lurks behind the smile and gloss.

[Jingthing]

I have found generally this is the Thai style of doctoring. Keeping a great physical distance from the patient. Being offended by questions. It is bizarre when you encounter it for the first time as a westerner.

[thaiozy]

This tragedy - sad to say - I believe this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Thailand medical industry.

It is a shame that it seems to have taken the efforts of someone with a bit of "clout" to suffer at there hands before it comes to light.

It is also unfortunate that many westerners seem to judge a hospital by it's furniture and equipment rather than the nature of the people who work there.

there will be literally hundreds of people who have received treatment in Thai hospitals who leave as happy, satisfied customers – after the stress of being in hospital it is only natural for people to feel relieved when they get out.........however the sad case is that even when all is well they leave with no real idea as whether the treatment they had was the most appropriate, e.g cheapest, only alternative etc........

people rely on doctors and put a huge amount of (sometimes unwarranted) trust in them - when they leave hospital they are told that if they hadn't been treated things could have been much worse - but are they as good as they should be???? - The hospitals rely on the "feelgood factor" and the ignorance of their patience to get away with "blue murder" there are few effective checks and balances in the Thai system and mistakes are either covered up or put down as "just one of those things".

Many will site the scandals in Western hospitals – but these scandals can only occur when there is and EFFECTIVE CHECKING system in place that will reveal such problems – in Thailand this does not happen.

I agree with the hype that we foriegners look at the nice wrappings & knowing that they must have all because their private BUT is not the case.

Up here in the Korat area the doctors cover all the hospitals as a thai man told me whilst waiting outside the local government hospital

& yes it`s all about money & time & facilities as my wife was forced to have a scessarian at the public hospital due to the private ones not having an emergency unit for babies. but since being abroad & not knowing what technique they were going to do (this is where thai don`t care because they are in the hands of the all mighty doctor with a degree) i would of taken her to a private one. Then i wouldn`t of had to watch the dog chewing on someone disposed of part

[geriatrickid]

Getting back to the case, there seems to be a lot of info missing. Is this a case of lost face or what? Look at the article;

The fetus was deformed. What was the hospital supposed to do? Is it cultural where you don't tell a pregnant woman she is carrying a genetic mutant? Even if they did advise her, then what? If she was that late in the pregnancy, what was the hospital expected to do? A late term abortion? In Thailand? Yea right. There are too many holes in this report. Before condemning the hospital, I'd like to know the doctor(s) role in this. And btw, why not go after the physician if it was an error? Is it easier to blame a "company" and not a person, although it was a human that made the decision not to advise as to the deformities.

something is amiss here. Courts don't award amounts like this in Thailand unless there is a good reason, and I would like to know the reason.

[TAWP]

i was in Bangkok Hospital last week, don't get me wrong the surgeons spoke english (whoopidoo) but get this....

downstairs in the foyer was a violinist and grand pianist playing classical music to the waiting area. (i kid you not)

/.../

Getting past the superficial fakeness and gold plated door knobs to define a good hospital? pffff- i don't think people understand unless they live here and know the mentality that lurks behind the smile and gloss.

Heh, I have a friend who works in BKK Hospital. His line said some weeks ago was 'I feel bad when I know we are scamming the patients...they are so overcharged' and then he mentioned some medicine and procedures. And told me how much the new helicopter pad costs...(iirc that one was built on BKK Hospital and not one of the sister hospital the same people own, not that it matter. They will never be able to recoup the cost for it through normal fee's.)

[JetsetBkk]

<snip>

It is also unfortunate that many westerners seem to judge a hospital by it's furniture and equipment rather than the nature of the people who work there.

<snip>

Include me out of that statement.

I went to Phuket International hospital (AKA Sirirod hospital) last year to see the doctor that had removed my ear wax previously. I was told I had to go to the new, recently built wing to the ENT doctor there. I said I wanted to see the doctor in the old building but these people were worse than the flower sellers, tailor touts and tuk-tuk drivers. They were so insistent that I went with them into this futuristic building with comfortable looking armchairs, wide screen TVs hanging from the ceiling and lots of pretty smiling nurses.

I knew I wouldn't stay but realised I had to go through this procedure to convince them that I wasn't interested. So I saw a senior nurse and explained I wanted my ears syringed out. "Oh, we don't do that. We use new equipment that painlessly sucks out the wax".

If anyone has had this done they will know that it isn't painless at all especially if the nurse/doctor doesn't have a steady hand and rams the end of the probe against your ear drum.

So I said I didn't want it but she insisted that she get the doctor to speak to me. I went through the same series of questions with him. He eventually gave up trying to convince me to let him use this vacuum equipment so I went back downstairs to the old building, sat on the old plastic chairs and waited to see the doctor who quickly, painlessly and relatively cheaply syringed out the ears just like my old doctor in the UK used to do.

This Thai doctor's name is Dr. Toranit, in case anyone else wants to see him. I hope he's still there. If anyone knows if he has his own clinic, I'd like to know where it is.

[chmeatloaf]

Justice served!!!!

As we are ordinary people, we weren't that lucky. We lost our daughter to defects of TRISOMY-18 one month after she was born.

Same thing, doctors said there was not wrong with our baby after the ultra-sound tests 3 month before birth.

[lioness]

Doctors in Thailand, and I am talking in general are not used to being questioned. It is almost an affront or loss of face.

I had one orthopaedic specialist in my area tell me that he was the doctor and that I didn't need to know anything. I then pointed out that he may be the doctor but it was my leg and my body and I needed to know exactly what the condition was and details of the medicines he was giving me, and in fact I insisted on it. He said he was the doctor and I could not insist on anything, It was only when I said I wouldn't pay the account that we reached a mutual pact.

Not only do some ( not all ) doctors try to fob you off they do tend to overprescribe, how many times have you been to the doctors and come away with a heap of different pills.

However on the whole most of them are pretty good, I think the lack of communication is that some of it has to do with the fact that most Thais don't ask questions.

[Avante]

Doctors in Bangkok are the rudest. From my past experiences.

[Phil Conners]

Doctors in Thailand, and I am talking in general are not used to being questioned. It is almost an affront or loss of face.

[...]

Doctor Olivier in South Pattaya encourage questions and take the time to answer them in a polite and patient manner. But he is of course Swiss.

[notepad]

Additional background information. Walter Lee is a Malaysian and a long-time resident of Thailand.

The following comes from his cousin's blog:

Little Zy

My name is Walter Lee and I have been living in Thailand since 1989. I am the CEO of Venturetec Marketing Company Limited (Thailand), I am married to Nok. We have 3 great kids, V, Mij, and Zy and we all live in Bangkok.

Little Zy is now 15 months old (I call him my little Professor) and is an absolute ball of fun. He was born with one complete left arm, half a right arm, no right leg, a malformed left leg with three toes and dislocated hip joints. He is otherwise just like any other baby.

He took our whole family and hospital (rated one of the top ones in this part of the world) by surprise the day he was born, the morning of September 30, 2006. (Yes, we had gone through the ultra-sound on the 18th week of Nok’s pregnancy and it wasn’t detected.)

The first 3 months after his birth was holding the family together, V was 3, Mij was 1 and Nok just couldn’t believe how she could have carried little Zy for 9 months, followed all the doctors advice and not know all of this was coming?? She was crying most of the time while still taking care of the 3 children.

All I had wanted was for my family to be happy.

I had no time to waste being sad or shocked anymore.

I knew this was only the beginning and I have psyched myself up to embark on this journey of discovery, to a dimension that I would have otherwise very likely overlooked in this lifetime. Little Zy had come with a message for his old man.

I needed to accomplish 3 things in the following order,

1) I needed to get Nok back because the chances of succeeding in whatever without Nok will be slim.

2) I needed to make sure little Zy is cheerful and happy. Cheeriness breeds optimism and without optimism in the little fella, the chances of succeeding with whatever treatments will be slim.

3) I needed to make sure little Zy is not deprived of ANYTHING that he would be entitled to experience if he was otherwise born with a full set of complete limbs.

Nok stopped crying everyday after 3 months. She was strong and she knew the only way to treat/nurture Little Zy was by treating ourselves first. We talked a lot about it and we brought little Zy out a lot, not so much because we had wanted to see the city but we needed to get used to the way the world will be looking at our family, awed, surprised, sympathetic or a mixture of. Going out together a lot and talking about it a lot was very therapeutic and happy to say we are a lot stronger and in the process, have grown even closer together. I think my first objective had been achieved.

Little Zy is a ball of fun and surprises. He grabs at everthing, crawls everywhere, rolls around like a ball, swims fearlessly like a driftwood, has a great appetite, does funny baby talks, arm-wrestles his elder brother, laughs and cries a lot and climbs up 2 flights of stairs ON HIS OWN!! I supposed my second objective had also been achieved.

Over the year, we have been to numerous hospitals in this part of the world, sought for assistance from different groups and associations, e-consulted from one continent to another, talking to peadiatric orthorpeadic specialists about little Zy’s case and his chances of standing and walking and have just time and again, been told to be patient, and to wait and see. He will turn out ok because at least his brains are functioning ok. That wasn’t good enough for me!! I knew Zy will be able to get around fine in a wheel chair but that just wasn’t enough for me! I wanted him to have an option to stand and walk if he so chooses to. This desire of mine had led me to make the following discovery…

(Deep inside me, I have a nagging fear that what if I eventually stumble across a cure or treatment but am unable to provide for it for whatever reasons….).

Thailand has more than 2 million disabled people, many which don’t even get integrated into the main stream of society, certainly not by choice, I think. Many of them shun main stream because main stream shuns them, unfortunately sometimes unknowingly.

There is a pediatric orthopedic specialist, Professor Carsten at the University of Heidelberg to whom I had been introduced to by this good samaritan couple/great friends and had visited last October in Germany. Prof Carsten and his team of prosthetic specialist tell me they are 80% confident they can make little Zy stand and walk. They showed me their work and gave me a prognosis of what, when and how they will be treating little Zy in the next few years (7 treatments in 5 years to be precise with each treatment lasting anywhere fron 4 to 6 weeks) . I was overwhelmed and hopeful again. That is exactly what I have been looking for for the past 12 months.

I told the Professor that I will have to return home and discuss with my wife first. This is a major decision for the family. There is a big financial concern and also a logistical one. Nok will have to be with little Zy throughout all his treatments and while she is away for all the extended treatments, who will be looking after our other children, V and Mij. We made a decision that we will go ahead with the treatment no matter what.

The thought of the millions of disabled people in Thailand came into my mind.

It is brutally apparent that the developed nations have the luxury of attaching more quality and value to lives. It is brutally apparent that the medical know-how in this area in Germany is years ahead of what we have here in Thailand.

If I shall be spending all these resources to treat one child, why can’t the treatment process to properly documented and disseminated so that potentially hundreds of thousands of disabled people might benefit from it? So if one cannot afford to use the best of materials like what they use in Germany, maybe they can use plywood or bamboo here. The important thing is understanding and learning the treatment process. (Little Zy’s case is 1 in the millions because the growth of all his limbs are random and he has dislocated hip-joints. It would have been easier to treat if any of the upper or lower limbs were symmetrical.) The logic is if the doctors in Germany are 80% confident of treating little Zy, then the lesser cases would even be more treatable.

I would not know how to professionally document the treatment process for future reference.

I am writing to you to join me in helping these millions of physically disabled people by giving them a chance that they might otherwise be deprived of.

If you or your organization can in anyway influence a medical professional(s)/institution(s) to learn and study from little Zy’s treatment process (which will begin in March 2008), and to use that to help the millions of physically disabled people, please contact me.

God bless.

Walter Lee and family

April 28, 2008

==============================================

From Facebook:

Walter Lee and Zy

[Phil Conners]

Does it say anywhere what caused the defect?

Edited December 26, 2009 by Phil Conners

[infernalman7]

As a person who lived in Malaysia for a long time. I think the health standard and checking system here in Thailand is superior than most of the Southeast Asian nations. Yes, this includes Singapore where most of the hospitals are owned by big families in the parliament.

At least, here in Thailand we have many more choices.

The sad bit is that everything about health care and hospitals and medical treatment is always very subjective and not so transparent almost everywhere. With the confidentiality thing between the "doctors" and the "patients" in the US and Europe, you may never know what is really wrong with yourself and you will never know the stuff they give you will really help you.

[faranginbkk]

As the child seems to be intellectually sound, at least there is nothing to the contrary reported, how is he going to feel as he gets older? "Of course, had we found out in time that you were abnormal, we would have aborted you and had a normal son later. As it was, we have to make do with the 12 million baht 'freak show' money".

I agree with you.

[whatchamacallit]

As the child seems to be intellectually sound, at least there is nothing to the contrary reported, how is he going to feel as he gets older? "Of course, had we found out in time that you were abnormal, we would have aborted you and had a normal son later. As it was, we have to make do with the 12 million baht 'freak show' money".

I suggest all the bashers read "What am I doing here?" by Bruce Chatwin, in which one of the articles tells of a Spanish woman who was told by her English doctors that her unborn daughter had no arms and legs, and should be aborted. She chose to have the baby, which was born with the full complement of limbs. Food for thought.

Whilst I agree with you - I think you're missing the point though. Would you be happy if you go to the best and most expensive hospital in your country for a check up and the Doctor overlooked a life threatening illness which should have been easily detected during your medical check-up?

[certified]

I went to Bumrungrad hospital 8 months ago and I thought I had a back ache. It was my good luck that the doctor had enough insight to ask for an x-ray. After the x-ray was finished they asked for another one. Ten minutes later they brought in a wheel chair and wheeled me out to a surgeon. He, with a penetrating look said to me, "Mr. Certified you are not having back spasms, your problem is much more serious. There is a main valve running into your heart and it is called an Aorta, this valve has burst and you are internally bleeding. If we don't operate on you, 100% you will die, all people do. Do I have your permission to save your life, and can I get the surgical team together now?" I said yes, signed some papers and they wheeled me quickly in for a cat scan. After the cat scan I was put on a stretcher and 4 or 5 nurses were running with me down the hallway to the operating room. In the operating room I was handed the phone and it was my Mom on the other end. The surgeon took the time to call her and explain everything. I said what all sons would say to their mother, and she said what all mothers would say to their sons. I gave them back the phone and they assured me I was going to be ok. I didn't know then I had a 4% chance to survive. Then the mask was put on my face and they operated all night for 13 hours. The next morning a little before noon I came to in the emergency room. There at my bedside was the surgeon and 4 other nurses. They saved my life. They gave it their all and they pulled me through. I lost a lot of blood and the odds were against me but through their efforts and skill, and desire to save me they did almost the impossible. Today when I think about what happened to me I have so many mixed emotions that I've never had before. I feel such gratitude and thankfulness yet also feel an inability to express these feeling to a team of professionalls that gave me another chance to live and experience life. These people are my heroes and I will always be indebted to them for the wonderful job they did for me. This includes everyone from the surgeon, to the follow up doctor who I still see, to the intensive care nurse who stayed by my side day after day, to the physical therapists who helped in the early days, the regular nurses who were always cheerful and professional,to the food therapist who interviewed me several times, and of course to my friends that came and visited me to cheer me on. Its easy to complain about minor things such as an alledged attitude or whatever you might perceive as being not up to your professional standards whatever they might be. But I went through a life changing experience at this hospital and from what I experienced everything they did was to the best of their ability with very high standards. And the cost was about 1/4 it would have been back home, maybe less than that.

[katana]

Does it say anywhere what caused the defect?

A lot of these birth defects can be caused by taking prescription drugs when pregnant. In the 1950s and 60s before this was known, they were regularly prescribed to pregnant women eg thalidomide, marzine (morning and travel sickness) etc.

Nowadays, a good rule of thumb is to try to avoid all prescription drugs when pregnant.

[ballpoint]

As the child seems to be intellectually sound, at least there is nothing to the contrary reported, how is he going to feel as he gets older? "Of course, had we found out in time that you were abnormal, we would have aborted you and had a normal son later. As it was, we have to make do with the 12 million baht 'freak show' money".

I suggest all the bashers read "What am I doing here?" by Bruce Chatwin, in which one of the articles tells of a Spanish woman who was told by her English doctors that her unborn daughter had no arms and legs, and should be aborted. She chose to have the baby, which was born with the full complement of limbs. Food for thought.

Whilst I agree with you - I think you're missing the point though. Would you be happy if you go to the best and most expensive hospital in your country for a check up and the Doctor overlooked a life threatening illness which should have been easily detected during your medical check-up?

That's quite a jump you're making there, and if the thread had have been about a doctor missing a life threatening condition in a patient, then I wouldn't have made this post, or indeed posted at all. I wasn't making any judgement, for or against the doctors, but simply making an observation. Whether they would have chosen to abort the child or not if they had have found out his condition in time, I can see him having plenty to think about when he finds out about this.

Edited to add: If the court found that the hospital was responsible for his condition, through incorrect medication of the mother for instance, then that's another matter. However, no mention of this has been made in any post so far.

Edited December 26, 2009 by ballpoint

[whatchamacallit]

Edited to add: If the court found that the hospital was responsible for his condition, through incorrect medication of the mother for instance, then that's another matter. However, no mention of this has been made in any post so far.

No - but you would think after the Ultra sound - the doctor would have said "Madame - the fetus is healthy but he/she is missing (quoting mr. Lee's) half a right arm, no right leg, a malformed left leg with three toes and dislocated hip joints".

[Sherlocke]

Getting back to the case, there seems to be a lot of info missing. Is this a case of lost face or what? Look at the article;

The fetus was deformed. What was the hospital supposed to do? Is it cultural where you don't tell a pregnant woman she is carrying a genetic mutant? Even if they did advise her, then what? If she was that late in the pregnancy, what was the hospital expected to do? A late term abortion? In Thailand? Yea right. There are too many holes in this report. Before condemning the hospital, I'd like to know the doctor(s) role in this. And btw, why not go after the physician if it was an error? Is it easier to blame a "company" and not a person, although it was a human that made the decision not to advise as to the deformities.

something is amiss here. Courts don't award amounts like this in Thailand unless there is a good reason, and I would like to know the reason.

i think you should read up a bit on modern treatment of pregnancies and the normal or required practices in these circumstances - also you might check out the Hippocratic oath as well

as far as I can see no-one is suggesting the hospital CAUSED the condition - it is a case on negligence - they should have informed the mother - as I said earlier - and I can site more instances of this - Doctors in Thailand are not properly trained to deal with this and many consider themselves above criticism refuse to take advice and like a culture of keeping their patients as ignorant as possible of their treatment. THis way if things go wrong they avoid any comeback.

Edited December 26, 2009 by Sherlocke