Patient sues 'negligent' doctors

Chitungwiza Central Hospital and its three doctors have been slapped with a $127 000 lawsuit by a patient who accuses the medical practitioners of negligence during surgery.

Ms Florence Teterai underwent surgery at the hospital last year after she was involved in a road traffic accident. After the surgery, that Ms Teterai claims to have been poorly performed, she ended up with a permanent disfigurement on her legs.

Ms Teterai accuses the institution and its doctors of failing to professionally perform the surgery, resulting in permanent disability. Dr Makota, Dr Sangare and Dr Ngoyi (first names not indicated in the papers) are being sued in their personal capacities.

Ms Teterai, through Mr Norman Mugiya of Mugiya and Macharaga Law Chambers, is claiming $10 000 for special damages, $55 000 for general damages and $62 000 for permanent disfigurement on her legs. She is also seeking an order for costs against the three doctors and the institution.

Ms Teterai is also seeking an order compelling the defendants to pay interest on the $127 000, calculated from the date of issuance of the summons to the date of payment in full. According to the plaintiff's declaration, Ms Teterai was involved in a vehicle accident on June 18 last year.

She sustained multiple fractures on her thigh and was taken to Chitungwiza Central Hospital. While at the hospital, the parties entered into an oral agreement for the doctors to perform surgery on her, with a view to fix the supracondylar fracture on the right femur.

"It was a term of the agreement that the defendants would perform the surgery with such professional skills as is reasonable to their profession as medical practitioners," said Ms Teterai.

"Despite the agreement, the defendants carried out the surgery negligently so much that X-rays which were taken on review after excessive pus was coming out from the operated area, showed that the surgery was recklessly done."

After realising they had messed up, Ms Teterai argues, the three doctors referred her to another practitioner called Dr Makoni, who owns a private surgery, for corrective surgery.

The three doctors also refused to conduct the second surgery on the ankle, giving a petty reason that they did not have appropriate gowns to wear in the theatre at Chitungwiza Central Hospital, it is claimed.

The trio later referred Ms Teterai again to Dr Makoni, which she said was a deliberate and indirect way of soliciting work for a private doctor. Ms Teterai complained to the administrator at Chitungwiza Central Hospital over the conduct of the trio.

At one point, Ms Teterai argues, Dr Makoni personally approached her, bragging that she had no option but to come to his surgery to save her leg from being amputated.

Upon realising that her health was deteriorating, Ms Teterai had to go to Dr Makoni, who is an orthopaedic and trauma specialist, who then had to re-do the sur gery.

Dr Makoni allegedly told Ms Teterai that the surgery was recklessly done, such that her leg could have been amputated had it not been corrected within a week.

As a result of the alleged negligence of the three doctors, Ms Teterai claims she had to spent an extra $500 on Dr Makoni to have the surgery corrected. She had paid another $1 500 at Chitungwiza Central Hospital.

The hospital and its three doctors are yet to respond to the claim.