Anil Koppula files lawsuit against Melbourne hospital claiming damages after witnessing wife’s c-section and resultant psychotic illness after being exposed to her organs and blood and the breakdown of their marriage.
Maybe he should’ve waited outside with a hot cup of tea or two…
An Australian father sought to file a lawsuit against the hospital where he witnesses his wife deliver a baby via cesarean-section birth in 2018, leading to the man experiencing ‘psychotic illness.’
Anil Koppula filed the suit several years after the successful operation, declaring that the experience led to a ‘breakdown of his marriage.’
Non economic loss
In the documents filed to support his suit, ‘Mr. Koppula alleges that he was encouraged, or permitted, to observe the delivery, that in the course of doing so, he saw his wife’s internal organs and blood.’
Additionally, Koppula claims ‘that the Hospital breached a duty of care it owed to him and is liable to pay him damages.’
His lawsuit seeks damages from the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne in the amount of 1 billion Australian dollars, the equivalent of more than 642 million US dollars.
A C-section is the surgical delivery of a baby through an incision made in the mother’s abdomen and uterus, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Health-care providers use it when they believe it is safer for the mother and/or the baby.
There are several medical reasons why a C-section might be the preferred route of child birth: an abnormal fetal position or heart rate, labor problems, a large-sized baby, infections or other concerns.
There are risks associated with the procedure, including infection, bleeding, blood clots and injury to the bladder or bowels.
A number of health experts have found that many C-sections are unnecessary: Overall, 31.8% — nearly one-third — of all US births were C-sections, according to KFF Health News, despite the risks and the high cost of the procedures.
Women are often permitted to have a partner or family member in the room as they have their C-section, so they can witness the birth of the new baby and support the mother during the procedure.
The hospital in Australia stated it hadn’t breached a ‘duty of care,’ along with maintaining Koppula didn’t suffer any real injury because of the C-section he observed.
The presiding judge agreed. Koppula chose to represent himself in court, with Justice James Gorton dismissing the suit, calling the claim an ‘abuse of process,’ the Herald Sun reported.
According to the judgement, the law does not allow a person to recover damages for non-economic loss unless their injury is a ‘significant injury’.
Koppula underwent a medical examination, with a panel determining that ”the degree of psychiatric impairment resulting from the injury to the claimant alleged in the claim does not satisfy the threshold level’.’
