Children’s hospital sued after toddler left brain damaged in Western Australia
The family of a disabled teenager, Sunday Mabior, are expected to receive millions of dollars in compensation over Princess Margaret Hospital negligence.
On 9 December 2005, the then 18 month old, Sunday, was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital, after suffering burns from a scalding bath tap at her family home. Sunday suffered burns to 20% of her body and in the few days following the incident, she suffered an infection leading to high temperatures and heart rate.
Sunday was in a life threatening condition and was taken to the Intensive Care Unit for treatment. The court heard doctors at the hospital did not administer antibiotics for two days and the Judge said the delay in considering alternative treatment options “increased the risk of her suffering Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome“, which lead to Sunday going into cardiac arrest twice and her organs failing. Sadly, Sunday developed brain damage and cerebral palsy, leading to her severe disablement.
The Mabior family took legal action against the Child and Adolescent Health Service alleging the staff at Princess Margaret Hospital did not properly monitor Sunday for infection and did not consider alternative treatment options. On 2 February 2018, District Court Judge Anthony Derrick found in favour of the family and deemed the hospital negligent over the treatment Sunday received as a toddler. Judge Derrick stated “a reasonable person in the position of the treating doctors would have taken the reasonable and practicable precaution of administering antibiotics…. given that the disadvantages of doing so if it was subsequently established that she did not have sepsis were minimal…..By failing to recognise…and by failing to administer antibiotics as quickly as reasonably possible, the team of doctors responsible for the care and treatment of the plaintiff in the burns ward did not meet the standard of care that was required”.
Sunday Mabior’s family are expected to receive millions of dollars in damages to go toward her extensive treatment and care requirements.
At Turner Freeman we have lawyers who specialise in medical negligence claims. If you or someone you know has suffered as a result of medical negligence, we encourage you to contact us on 13 43 63 to speak with one of our specialised lawyers.