Woman wins major medical malpractice case

Posted On:   12 February 2018

US – 17th January, 2018:  22 year-old Dangriga resident Jenny Bonilla has won a compensation award of 250 thousand dollars, after she sued a doctor from the Western Regional Hospital for medical malpractice and won.

Her attorney, Michel Chebat, told us her complaint was against Dr. Gilberto Landero, a medical practioner who is still working at the Western Regional Hospital.

2 years ago, Bonilla, who's a serving police officer, started having pains in her abdomen. She was admitted to the Southern Regional Hospital, and she was later transferred to the Western Regional Hospital. She was supposed to undergo an exploratory surgery to diagnose what medical ailment she was suffering from.

Dr. Landero performed the surgery, and when he went in, he misdiagnosed her with a cancerous womb. He removed her womb and her left ovaries, without her consent, a medical procedure which caused her great distress because she had intended to have children.

Bonilla spoke with the Amandala Newspaper and said that the doctor's actions afterwards caused her to get suspicious, and she was later called by an employee of the Western Regional Hospital, who told to retrieve her removed uterus because the doctor was supposedly trying to dispose of it. She did so and sent it abroad for tests to determine if indeed her organ was cancerous.

Chebat, her attorney, told us that he took the case to the Supreme Court on her behalf, and they sued the doctor on the basis of medical negligence. After case management, an expert witness gave her report, supporting the misdiagnosis, and it was at that point that the Government and the Doctor accepted liability.

Both sides made submissions to the court on the quantum of damages that is ought to be awarded to Bonilla. After deliberation, Justice Sonya Young ruled on Monday that she is to be paid $250,000.

Source: http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=43399