A Nairobi court has awarded Sh44.5m to a man who developed brain damage as a result of an operation gone wrong 14 years ago at the Nairobi Hospital.
In a judgement read by Justice Lucy Njunguna on behalf of Justice George Odunga the judge also awarded his parents Sh1 million.
The parents had moved to court and sued on behalf of their son, who at the time of the operation, was 14-year-old and Form Four candidate at St Mary’s High School.
Jacob Oluochi Ondeko sustained hypoxic brain damage due to the negligence of the doctor who administered anaesthesia on him.
The anaesthetist Dr Praxedes Mandu Okutuyi and Nairobi Hospital were directed to pay the money.
The doctor is said to have conducted the operation without proper evaluation ,history and tests on the patient to determine the safety of the operation
The court also found that the doctor failed to monitor the patient and as a result the volatile agent halothene was not titrated to effect leading to cardiac arrest and cyonosis.
The said problem was aggravated by the malfunctioning and failure of the anaesthetic machine to detect the reduction of oxygen level below the minimum set limits.
The court found that the doctors failed to exhibit reasonable care and skills in the treatment of the plaintiff during and after the surgery.
The man had sustained a nasal fracture during a basketball game and had gone for correction.
The parents had blamed the anaesthetist, the ENT surgeon and the hospital.