PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has called for reforms in the handling of medical procedures involving high-risk patients, following two recent court cases where multimillion-ringgit awards were given for medical negligence.
MMA president Dr Muruga Raj Rajathurai expressed concern about the progress of litigation in Malaysia, despite respecting the court decisions.
Dr Muruga Raj highlighted a shift in doctors’ willingness to be involved in the care of high-risk patients, particularly those in specialties such as obstetrics, neurosurgery, and spine surgery.
As a result, patients are being deprived of care from experienced consultants who are now unwilling to take on the associated risks, often due to the unwillingness of next of kin to accept these risks.
“We refer to two High Court judgments that were published recently: one case involved a three-year-old girl left paralysed after a caesarean birth, and another case involved a woman and her four-year-old daughter who suffered severe and irreversible brain damage during birth,” Dr Muruga Raj said in a statement.
The High Court awarded over RM5.6 million to the three-year-old girl on July 5. She suffered spinal cord injuries following complications from the surgery, resulting in paralysis from the neck down.
The High Court also awarded over RM8 million to a woman and her four-year-old daughter on July 6. The child suffered severe and irreversible brain damage during birth at a government hospital in March 2019.
Dr Muruga Raj noted that high-risk patients are often referred to public hospitals, further burdening specialists in these institutions.
“Mistakes and complications can occur due to the high volume of work,” he said.
He highlighted the potential consequences of lawsuits with high payouts, including increased costs of professional indemnity insurance, which will ultimately be passed on to patients and result in higher healthcare costs.
Dr Muruga Raj suggested looking to Singapore as an example, where the issue was recognized in 2016 and efforts were made to address it in collaboration with the Singapore Medical Council and other stakeholders.
The MMA has repeatedly raised this issue with key stakeholders in the Malaysian government, including the executive, legislative, and judiciary components.
Proposed reforms include mandatory mediation for quicker resolutions, as well as the concept of no-fault compensation to assist injured parties towards normality without assigning blame.
Credit: The Star : News Feed
