Korle Bu in ?500 million malpractice suit

The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital is due to appear in court to answer a case of negligence brought against it by a couple based in Accra.

Lawyers of Mohammed Awal, a travel and tour executive and his wife Portia Fordjour on June 12, 2001 filed a writ at an Accra High Court claiming general and exemplary damages in the sum of ?500 million for the loss of their unborn baby, which they alleged died because of "deliberate negligence" on the part of a doctor and a team of nurses who attended to Portia when she was admitted at the hospital in February this year.

The action was taken because a letter written by the plaintiff's solicitor has been ignored by the hospital. In the April 5 edition of The Accra Mail, Awal said he was considering suing the hospital for the loss of his daughter.

The writ said during the her nine months' pregnancy, Portia who is the second plaintiff, regularly attended the Korle Bu Teaching, where a particular doctor took care of her. The writ said the doctor provided all the antenatal care for the Portia throughout her period of pregnancy, until February 24 when a senior nurse predicted that she would deliver at 12.45. She did not deliver on February 24; neither did the baby come on the subsequent days (25 and 26 February).

According to the writ, on February 25, the doctor assured first plaintiff that even though the second plaintiff, with the consent of her husband (first plaintiff) signed an authorisation for a caesarian operation to be performed on her on February 24, the doctors did not perform the operation until late in the evening of February 26, 2001.

All through the period - which was from February 25-26 the medical team put her on drip, without food.

The eventual caesarian operation revealed a dead baby. "It is the contention of the plaintiff that the doctors at Korle Bu were professionally negligent in performing the operation so late as to cause the death of the baby", the writ said. The writ also stressed that a Senior Nurse wrongfully predicted that the baby would be delivered at 12.45 on February 24. It added that the doctor refused wrongfully to perform the operation on February 24 even though the authorisation had been signed. The date for hearing is yet to be fixed.