Justice took 18 years In completing the solution to the case of a child who suffered from birth Medical malpracticewhich caused him Cerebral palsy. The victim is currently a 23-year-old girl who cannot control her movements. Their parents will only be able to collect now compensation.
the Supreme Court of Justice He ended the process this week by raising the amount of compensation the family should receive.
girl, M called. In governance From court, he is in a wheelchair with chest support, feeds through his stomach button, does not speak, has no control of his sphincter muscles, makes groans or guttural sounds, makes aimless head movements, and has no voluntary control of movement or response to verbal commands.
In 2007, his parents, representing their three minor children, filed a lawsuit against MMY, SO, Swiss Medical Group SA, Clinica y Maternidad Suizo Argentina SA, Docthos SA and HSBC Holding SA for Damages As a result of the care provided by doctors during childbirth.
M was born on January 23, 2002 In the Argentine Swiss Maternity Clinic. The parents claimed that poor care during childbirth caused their daughter A Perinatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy With irreversible damage to several organs and the brain (cerebral palsy of the fourth degree).
The preliminary ruling approving the family’s claim was issued by Civil Court No. 58 on December 21, 2018.
The defendants appealed and on April 27, 2021 a Civil Appeals Chamber, Chamber K Partial cancellation of the initial ruling.
The court, like the primary judge, considered its existence proven Fetal distress During childbirth, which, according to him, is most likely the cause of M.’s cerebral palsy.
However, the report Forensic Medicine Authority He pointed out that he did not definitively rule out the presence of other causes. It was stated that both the analysis of the placenta and the report of National Academy of Medicine He pointed out the possibility that the origin of cerebral palsy was due to Causes before birth.
For this reason, the Chamber concluded that there was a ten percent break in the causal relationship He admitted this claim by ninety percent. The lawsuit related to the obstetrician and the midwife was also rejected, and the causal link in their actions was considered broken.
Finally the court reduced to $13,294,887 Compensation set by the trial judge at $38,650,000 and interest adjusted. With this ruling, the family went to the Supreme Court with A An extraordinary resource Finally, with A Appeal the complaint.
The court finally ordered an increase in compensation to the girl’s parents. Judges Horacio Rosati, Carlos Rosencrantz, and Riccardo Lorenzetti It led to a claim by the minor’s relatives, in relation to Moral damage and loss of profitsBecause they realize that their proposal “is directly and immediately linked to the constitutional guarantees that are being invoked as being violated.”
Although it understood that grievances arising from “break of causation” were inadmissible, the Supreme Court accepted claims relating to some Compensation clauses To understand that the contested ruling was arbitrary.
“It is not seen how the circumstances of the young woman and the way in which the event affected her spirit could, in light of the circumstances described, be an acceptable basis for the minimum moral injury decided by the Chamber,” the court said.
The Supreme Court added that “the ruling (the Chamber) does not contain an argument that even attempts to explain what the relationship that will exist between… The severe negative consequences that M. was exposed to“The profound influence on the spiritual world is evident from the events themselves,” said Rosati, Rosencrantz and Lorenzetti.
The ruling also questioned the arguments calling for reducing compensation for moral damage to the girl’s parents. The chamber had said that “the completely disabling consequences caused by M. in all aspects of his life, whether in movement, eating, sleeping, or carrying out his basic needs.” They have an entity of such magnitude that they have affected the minds of their parents.. The circumstances in which you cannot Surviving only with the help of others is a source of terrible grief and pain in the soul of her parents, who have also expressed deep concern for her future if she survives.
According to one witness, “their moods change, times of acceptance, times of frustration, a lot of uncertainty about the future.”
The court warned that “such arguments Do not agree with the reduction in the amount of compensation “which the judge determined after conducting a detailed review” and identified the circumstances that caused the family terrible suffering and uncertainty.
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