A Dubai Civil Court has instructed two doctors and two nurses from a private hospital to pay Dh200,000 in damages to the parents of a fetus that died in utero during delivery.
This verdict, reported by Al Khaleej, found the medical staff guilty of a severe medical error. It includes a 5% legal interest from the ruling’s finalization date until full payment, alongside court fees.
The decision was the result of a lawsuit by an Arab couple seeking Dh499,000 for the physical, psychological, and financial trauma experienced by the wife after the loss of their baby, as well as the emotional distress suffered by the husband.
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Case records, as mentioned by Al Khaleej, indicate that the wife was under consistent medical care throughout her pregnancy. However, negligence during delivery—specifically in monitoring the fetal heart rate—led to the tragic loss.
The couple filed a complaint with Dubai Health Authority’s Medical Liability Committee, which confirmed a grave error by the hospital staff. When the defendants appealed, the Higher Medical Liability Committee maintained the findings, assigning equal responsibility of 25% to each medical staff member involved.
The errors included misreading the fetal heart monitor, failing to identify the pregnancy as high-risk, stopping fetal monitoring, and neglecting the heartbeat for too long. These errors were confirmed to have directly caused the fetus’s death.
The hospital staff denied any negligence, attributing the death to natural causes like umbilical cord issues or genetic factors. They also claimed the fetal monitor was briefly removed at the mother’s request, despite medical advice against it.
Legal expert Dr. Alaa Nasr, speaking to Al Khaleej, highlighted that under Federal Decree Law No. 4 of 2016, medical liability committees are tasked with identifying medical errors and assigning accountability. Their findings are binding and not open to appeal. The court’s decision was based on these findings and Civil Transactions Law, which mandates that compensation matches the harm caused.
