Hospital to pay former nurse Sh4 million for misdiagnosis

Former nurse Caroline Menganga Joseph at her home in Tudor, Mombasa county. [File, Standard]

The High Court has awarded a former nurse in Mombasa Sh4 million as compensation for misdiagnosis that left her with an irreversible condition.

Justice Freda Mugambi awarded Caroline Menganga, 81, after she appealed a decision by a lower court that found Dr Fathiya Abdalla not guilty of negligence.

Ms Menganga, 81, sued Pandya Memorial Hospital and Abdalla after she was misdiagnosed as suffering from Tuberculosis (TB), leading to a wrong prescription that left her with severe vertigo, a condition characterized by dizzy spells. The jab also left her partially deaf.

Justice Mugambi said all medical practitioners who testified, save for Abdalla, concluded that Menganga tested negative for TB.

Justice Dennis Magare who read the Judgment on behalf of Justice Mugambi concurred with Menganga's lawyer Radolph Tindika that the doctor breached her duty of care by putting his client on TB drug without test showing she was suffering from the disease.

"I have perused the record at the lower court and I note that the Menganga first saw Dr Fathiya Abdalla in November 1998. Dr.Abdalla carried out a number of tests between diverse dates. The manteaux test were negative. There were a number of sputum tests which were negative for TB," noted Justice Mugambi.

The Judge said proof in any civil proceedings is on a balance of probability and that the hospital must be held responsible.

“Weighing the evidence submitted by both parties in this matter the defendant was negligent is irresistible,” said the judge in the decision to reverse the lower court’s verdict to dismiss the case.

The Judge said hospitals are liable for breach of duty as patients are taken by their staff.

“Any negligence in the doctor's duty will make the hospital vicariously liable. We find the respondents wholly liable in negligence,” he ruled.

The court awarded Menganga Sh4 million for general damages and Sh16,180 for special damages with interest accrued from 2000 when the case was filed. The court ordered Dr Abdalla and the hospital to bear the cost of compensation.

Testifying before the court, Menganga's witness Dr Yusuf Karim, said the former nurse will have to live with the consequences of the misdiagnosis for the rest of her life. The wrongful prescription was done on June 16, 1999.

"Yes, I knew streptomycin was the cause of partial deafness and imbalance when she came to see me in May 2000 suffering from vertigo and told me that she was on the drug," said Dr Karim.

Dr Abdalla said that she was suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. Dr Karim in his testimony during the hearing in the lower court said Dr Abdalla could have considered the patient's weight.

In her testimony before the lower court, Menganga said she was put on the TB drug on June 16, 1999, after she complained of fever and other ailments despite resistance to the drug.

"I was surprised when Dr Abdalla diagnosed me with TB. I resisted being put on the drug before being admitted for four weeks,” said Menganga.

She said she suffered severe poisoning and vertigo and became constantly anemic.

In her defense, Dr Abdalla said that before Menganga was put on TB drug she had a persistent cough and blood-stained sputum.

“She first came to me with complaints of coughing up blood-stained sputum in November 1998. I did a sputum test, blood test, Mantoux test, and chest X-ray...The findings were negative for Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) and chest X-ray showed no sign of PTB," said Dr Abdalla during the hearing.

The doctor said after all the tests turned negative in 1998, the patient returned to her with the same complaint on June 14, 1999.

"Again I commenced necessary investigations...  A pathologist did a full blood count which was still negative. I also consulted a radiologist who found out she was not suffering from PTB,” said Dr Abdalla.

Although the two consultants did not find a positive test for PTB, the doctor said they thought that the woman could have just started suffering from PTB.

“That was the reason why I prescribed anti-tuberculosis drugs. I am not negligent,” said Dr Abdalla.

Menganga told court that because of the complication of the conditions brought about by the wrong medicine she was fired while aged 54.

This is when she sought a second medical examination that proved she was not suffering from PTB.

Lung specialist Dr John Adungusi criticised Dr Abdalla for putting Menganga on anti-TB treatment, yet she was not suffering from the disease.