Published on August 05, 2005

Awarded Bt800,000 for doctors' errors. The Public Health Ministry was yesterday ordered to pay Bt800,000 in damages to a woman who was left blind in both eyes as a result of malpractice by state doctors.

Dokrak Petchprasert broke down in tears yesterday when a judge ordered the ministry to compensate her after she was blinded by doctors six years ago.

"This shows me that justice exists in the world," said Dokrak, 45, who became blind in 1999 after receiving medical treatment for drug allergies at Swan Pracharak Hospital in Phitsanulok.

The Nonthaburi Provincial Court handed down the verdict yesterday after Dokrak sued the ministry's Office of the Permanent Secretary, which oversees the hospital.

In her statement filed with the court, Dokrak asked for Bt13 million in compensation. Instead of filing a civil case against doctors and the hospital, Dokrak filed her case under a 1996 act on rights infringements by state officials.

"We don't want the case to be perceived as a battle between patient and doctor," said Saree Ongsomwang of the Foundation for Consumers, which assisted Dokrak in filing the case.

Dokrak's tragedy happened on October 25, 1999, after she received an injection at a medical clinic for a common cold. The next day, Dokrak found that she was allergic to the medicine. Her eyes were itchy, they excreted fluid and wounds also appeared in her mouth.

She went back to hospital where she reported to Dr Pornchai Chobthangsilp, the doctor who treated her with the injection the day before. Without examining her eyes carefully, the doctor gave her medicine and informed her that she had eye inflammation. She was allowed to go home.

In the evening, her eyes got worse and she was forced to go back to hospital.

Dr Suchart Wipaskornwaravuth diagnosed her with Steven-Johnson Syndrome, an allergic reaction to drugs that can cause blindness or death. However, the doctor failed to give her proper medicine to treat the condition and she went completely blind two days later.

The Public Health Ministry has 30 days to appeal the verdict.

Dokrak is the second victim to win a case against medical malpractice.

Last year, Khon Kaen Provincial court ordered a doctor from Khon Kaen Ram Hospital to pay Jatupas Pongpiramitr Bt1.58 million for wrecklessly causing her daughter's death.

Supachai Sinprasert

The Nation