Hospital ordered to pay three million crowns in damages to parents of paralysed girl

A regional court has ordered the Teaching Hospital in Hradec Kralové, East Bohemia, to pay three million crowns in damages to the parents of a baby girl who was paralysed for life after catching an infection in a hospital incubator. The parents originally sought twice the amount in compensation. The child, born prematurely with her twin sister, suffered irreversible brain damage after catching the infection and now requires permanent medical attention, the parents said. In recent years, Czech courts have had to address similar complaints regarding hospitals: in 2009 a hospital in Semily, East Bohemia, had to pay a more than half a million crowns to the parents of a four-year-old boy who died following routine surgery. In another case, a court ruled that the Na Bulovce Teaching Hospital in Prague had to pay 12 million crowns to parents whose son suffered serious brain damage after undergoing an operation.

Author: Jan Velinger