...handed down - Jamaican Government to pay man $5m for amputated arm
July 03, 2008
THE SUPREME Court has ordered the Government to pay $5 million in damages for negligence to a 25-year-old man, whose left arm was amputated at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James when he was 11 years old.
Anthony Jackson, of Retirement, St James, had to wait for 13 years before his case was heard. Jackson was also awarded US$50,000 (J$3.5 million) to purchase a maun-electric prosthesis, and US$10,000 (J$710,000) for maintenance of the prosthesis.
The suit was filed by Jackson's mother, Mavis Arnold, in 1995 because Jackson was a minor.
The boy fell and broke his hand on January 31, 1994, while he was playing with a friend at home. There was a cut on the arm and Jackson was taken to hospital the same day.
Negligent
Jackson's arm was amputated three to four inches below the shoulder on February 3, 1994, because gas gangrene developed in the arm.
Justice Horace Marsh, in awarding damages in Jackson's favour, said the doctor or doctors who saw him on admission were negligent in treating him.
The judge said he had no difficulty finding that the gas gangrene (a bacterial infection) which forced the amputation of the claimant's left arm was essentially caused by the deficient treatment....
Author: Barbara Gayle
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
