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Partially paralysed Dr. Samanmali compensated for life in a wheelchair
View(s):The long, drawn out legal battle for compensation for Dr P.D. Samitha Samanmali, a promising medical student whose life was tragically shattered by the collapsing stage at the BMICH, which left her partially paralysed, ended on Friday, when the Colombo District Court awarded her Rs180 million in damages.
Dr P.D. Samitha Samanmali. Pic by Indika Handuwala
The BMICH was ordered to pay the victim Rs 100 million for future medical expenses, Rs 50 million for loss of future income, and Rs 20 million to compensate for the pain and suffering, and loss of amenities caused by the accident.
Samanmali was a medical student at the time, when a stage installed at the BMICH for a medical exhibition collapsed. An iron rod fell on her as the stage collapsed, damaging her spine, injuring her skull and left her paralysed below her waist, on Feb.15, 2008.She filed action in the Colombo District Court in December 2010, saying the accident deprived her chance of leading a normal life and of practising her profession. She has been confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Colombo District Court Judge Pradeep Hettiarachchi in his judgment cited several cases where personal injuries that left persons paralysed had been compensated.
He said, in such cases the plaintiff is entitled to compensation for pain and suffering, as well as for actual expenditure and pecuniary loss, loss of health and amenities for life, as well as future expenses and loss of earning capacity.
Samanmali had been hospitalised at the Colombo Genera Hospital for five months following the injury, and later sought treatment at a hospital in Beijing, China, with no marked improvement in her condition.
Her hospital stay in China had cost her US$ 43,271 (around Rs 5.7 million) evidence of which were produced to Court. As her siblings also travelled with her to assist her, their board and lodging cost an additional sum of over Rs 1.5 million. She later sought treatment in a hospital in Singapore for about a month, where, there too she incurred heavy expenses. Consequent to her treatment in Singapore, her condition improved slightly, making it possible for her to sit in a wheelchair, which she could not do previously.
Medical evidence presented to court confirmed that Samanmali sustained serious injuries to her spinal cord left her paralysed waist downwards. Due to the loss of sensation in the lower half of her body, she has to undergo special ultrasound scans and other tests regularly, while taking medicines.
Due to her condition, she is unable to use public transport or drive a vehicle and hence, she needs to employ a driver to take her around. As she is unable to attend to her household work on her own, she also has to hire domestic help.
Most of her medical expenses abroad were paid for with monies collected to a fund initiated in her name by a private organisation.