By FRANCIS JOSEPH Saturday, July 28 2007

A 52-year-old businesswoman was yesterday awarded $3M in damages and interest after a gauze swab was left inside her abdomen for seven months after surgery.

Justice Zainool Hosein, presiding in the Port-of-Spain High Court, awarded the damages and interest to Margaret Roberts, of Chaguanas. The award was made against Juliet Roopnarinesingh, legal personal representative of the late Dr Syam Roopnarinesingh, and the trustees of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

In his nine-page judgment, Hosein ordered that general damages be assessed at $875,000 with interest at 12 percent per annum from October 11, 2000. He also awarded special damages in the sum of $660,884.48 at the rate of six percent per annum from January 10, 1999. The court also ordered Roopnarinesingh and the church to pay costs.

Attorneys Odai Ramischand and Prithee Boodoo appeared for Roberts.

Roberts had been a patient of Dr Roopnarinesingh, a gynaecologist, for 15 years. In December 1998, Dr Roopnarinesingh advised Roberts to undergo a surgical procedure to remove fibroid from her uterus and she was admitted to the Seventh-Day Adventist Community Hospital on January 9, 1999 for the procedure to be performed.

Dr Roopnarinesingh performed a myomectomy on Roberts. However, a gauze swab was left in Roberts’ abdomen for seven months. After her surgery, Roberts informed the doctor that she was experiencing pain on the left side of her abdomen, but was told that the pain was part of the healing process.

Two months later, Roberts visited her doctor again and was given an injection. In June 1999, Roberts was suffering from hemorrhoids, fever and pain in the abdomen, back, waist and thighs. One morning in August 1999, Roberts awoke in extreme pain. She was taken back to the hospital where she remained warded for ten days. Doctors performed an operation and removed the gauze swab from Roberts’ abdomen on August 19, 1999.

The following day, another operation was performed on Roberts where doctors found a hole in her large intestine causing faeces to leak into her abdominal cavity. After this operation, Roberts remained with a puncture and tube in her abdomen on the right side of her body to drain inflammation from her abdomen into a plastic bag.

As a result, Roberts could not sit up or walk and was constantly in tremendous pain. One week later, Roberts’ abdomen began to swell as a result of the presence of a large amount of bacteria. A tube had to be placed inside her nostril reaching down inside her stomach with the other end in a clear plastic bag to drain the bacteria from her stomach.

Roberts stayed at the hospital for a month and when she was discharged, she employed a personal nurse for three months as she was unable to care for herself.

Dr Roopnarinesingh died on December 30, 2002.