An attempt by Sam-J Specialist Hospital to stay the execution of a High Court judgment against the hospital and medical director for medical negligence has failed as the Court of Appeal yesterday, dismissed its motion for stay of execution.
The Court of Appeal panel, chaired by Justice Barbara Ackah Yensu, described the motion as lacking substance, and that the applicants failed to demonstrate an exceptional circumstance to warrant a stay of execution. A cost of GH¢ 5000 was also awarded against the hospital.
An Accra High Court (Commercial Division) last July, fined Sam-J Specialist Hospital in Accra, GH¢326,456 for medical negligence that led to the paralysis of a baby in the right arm.
The amount includes; the award of general damages of ¢200,000 and a cost of ¢20,000 against the hospital and its owner, Dr. Amoo Mensah, a specialist obstetrician-gynecologist, who the court found to have negligently failed to live up to the professional medical standards in providing antenatal care to the plaintiff.
The High Court presided over by Justice Doreen G, Boakye-Agyei determined that although the plaintiffs (expectant mother and her husband) in March 2017, sought the services of the private health facility and its owner for the best medical treatment to deliver a healthy baby, “their expectations were dashed due to the inability of defendants to adhere to their own ethical and professional standards,” leaving the child “handicapped for life.”
The court found that due to the poor medical treatment, the baby suffered Klumpke’s palsy– a paralysis of the arm due to an injury of the network of spinal nerves resulting from a difficult delivery.
But the hospital in August, filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal, after which it also filed a motion for stay of execution.
In dismissing the motion for stay of execution, Justice Ackah Yensu stated that “upon reading the affidavit in support and going through the proceedings, we find that the applicants have not demonstrated any compelling matter or exceptional circumstances to warrant a stay of execution.”
Mr Emmanuel Darkwa, Counsel for the plaintiffs, who sued the hospital in June 2019, described the application as incompetent and grossly misconceived, and only an attempt by the hospital to delay the execution of the court’s judgment.
