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Topics: Parenting, Health, Sex and Relationships
Dominic Smithers
Topics: Parenting, Health, Sex and Relationships
A dad tried to sue a hospital after staff allowed him to watch his wife's C-section.
Anil Koppula and his wife, from Melbourne, Australia, welcomed their child into the world back in 2018.
But rather than this being the start every family hopes for, Mr Koppula claimed it had a hugely damaging impact on his mental wellbeing and completely destroyed their relationship.
And he launched a legal case against Royal Women's Hospital, claiming he had developed a 'psychotic illness' from witnessing the birth.
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According to court documents, Mr Koppula demanded he receive $1 billion AUD (£519.1 million) in damages from the hospital.
The distressed father said he had been encouraged by staff to watch the delivery, during which he was exposed to his wife's internal organs and blood.
He told the court that this was a clear breach of the hospital's duty of care.
But while the Royal Women's Hospital admitted it did have a responsibility to provide a duty of care but said it in no way breached it.
Presiding over the bizarre case, justice James Gorton sided with the hospital, ruling that Mr Koppula's lawsuit was a clear 'abuse of process'.
He explained that the law only allows a person to seek damages when there's been no loss of earnings if they have suffered a 'significant injury' - which Mr Koppula had not.
A psychological examination also found that 'the degree of psychiatric impairment resulting from the injury to the claimant alleged in the claim does not satisfy the threshold level'.
Justice Gorton said: "I am therefore satisfied that the legal effect of the Medical Panel's determination is that Mr Koppula is simply unable, as a matter of law, to recover damages for non-economic loss."
According to reports, Mr Koppula, who represented himself, decided not to appeal the decision.
This comes after a mother in New Zealand was left with chronic pain after having a baby via c-section.
The unnamed woman was horrified to discover over a year later that she had a surgical tool the size of a dinner plate left inside her abdomen.
She was left in agonising pain after giving birth in 2020 but despite having multiple check ups the object went unnoticed for 18 months when it was picked up on during an abdominal CT scan.
The object in question was an extra large Alexis wound retractor, or AWR — a device used to draw back the edges of a wound during surgery.
A newly published report from New Zealand’s health and disability commissioner stated: "The Case Review found that it was this second AWR (size XL) that was retained.
"It should be noted that the retractor, a round, soft tubal instrument of transparent plastic fixed on two rings, is a large item, about the size of a dinner plate.
“Usually, it would be removed after closing the uterine incision (and before the skin is sutured)."