Woman sues hospital over wrong diagnosis

A WOMAN of Mufulira has sued Mopani Copper Mines (MCM)’s Malcom Watson hospital in the Lusaka High Court for alleged wrong diagnosis and misinformation that she had syphilis during pregnancy.

The complainant said in her statement of claim that on February 20, 2017, being an expectant mother who was not feeling well, was subjected to clinical tests.

She said a doctor on duty informed her that she tested positive for syphilis.

She said when she disputed the results and demanded a retest, the medical staff at the hospital insisted that the results were correct and that there was no room for error.

She added that the medical staff proceeded to coercively inflict her with a painful anti-syphilis drug against her will as in their opinion, medication for syphilis had to start immediately.

She said that on February 25, 2017, being dissatisfied with the hospital’s diagnosis, she pleaded with the hospital to have a new set of tests conducted on her so that the previous diagnosis can be verified to be either wrong or not. She indicated that the new tests were conducted on both her and her spouse but that this time, the results came out negative.

In order to clear any doubt, she submitted samples of her blood for a third set of tests which also came out negative, she said.

She claimed that the wrong syphilis diagnosis and painful infliction of anti-syphilis drugs were caused by negligence of the hospital. “The wrong diagnosis of syphilis by the hospital and its servants was a gross professional dereliction of duty of care imposed on medical practitioners to their clients, especially considering the special circumstances under which I was in as an expectant mother, the duty of care ought to have been higher,” she complained.