KUALA LUMPUR: A 58-year-old woman who lost her left breast after following post surgery complications, is suing the Serdang Hospital for a sum of more than RM20.2 million, for negligence.
I. Pertemahwadi filed the legal action at the High Court registrar here today through Messrs Rusmah Arunan & Associates.
She named Dr Abdul Muiz Jasid, a cardio thoracic specialist doctor at the Serdang Hospital and the government as the first and second defendants in her suit.
In her statement of claim, she said that on Jan 22, last year, she sought treatment from the hospital and was advised to undergo a bypass surgery after having the relevant and necessary tests conducted on her.
She claimed that immediately after her discharge on Feb 24 the same year, she complained to the first defendant, who performed the surgery on her, that the wounds on her chest were beginning to open up but she was told that the opening of stitches were normal due to the weight of her breasts.
She then went to a clinic on Feb 27 to seek dressing and treatment. The doctor there found that her wound had opened to about two inches and had been infected.
The housewife claimed that she went back to the Serdang Hospital to perform a Vacuum Assisted Closure (VAC) treatment as advised by the first defendant.
Following the procedure, the wound on her left breast developed due to spreading of infection.
She claimed that she was then referred to the Breast Specialist Department and was advised to remove the infected part of her breast.
However, it did not solve the problem as the infection had spread to her entire left breast. She then had to perform a second surgery to remove the entire part.
The plaintiff claimed that following the incident, she lost confidence in the treatment, attention and care provided by the Serdang Hospital and had herself discharged voluntarily on April 1, this year.
The woman, who has a 14-year-old son, claimed that she was unable to undertake any household responsibilities as before from February to October 2016 as she was bedridden during the period.
The plaintiff is seeking for general and aggravated damages in a sum of RM20,000,000 and RM223,487.60 in special and other reliefs deemed fit by the court.