The Management of John F. Kennedy Medical Center (JFK) has been held liable and ordered to pay US$1 million lawsuit as general damages and US$3.1m special damages for a wrongful surgical operation performed on one of its patients identified as Karen Gaydou Sehkehporh of Paynesville City.
The case against Liberia’s biggest medical facility took place in the Sixth Judicial Circuit, Civil Law Court at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia.
The Management of John F. Kennedy Medical Center pleaded not guilty during the trial.
But the petit jurors in the court October 27, 2023 said they found the evidence against the hospital compelling and rejected the hospital’s plea.
The Jurors found that the evidence presented before the court “greatly implicate” the defendant and rejected the arguments by the hospital’s legal team.
“We, therefore, find the defendant liable as charged,” the jurors ruled.
The Management of the hospital was arraigned in court during the month of October on the account of damages for wrongful surgical operation carried out on one of its patients (Karen) in 2019. Our courtroom reporter said the matter was filed in 2020.
The hospital lawyers have on Monday, October 30, 2023 filed a motion for new trial requesting that said verdict be set aside because it does not support the weight of the evidence adduced at trial.
Madam Sehkelporh in her complaint to the Civil Law Court “B” claimed that doctors at the hospital left abdominal gauze in her body after a surgery, which caused further pains and complications.
“Dr. Ernest Enders and Dr. Billy Johnson at the JFK Hospital performed an Abdominal Hysterectomy Surgery on me, which was needed to have my ovaries removed due to possible ovarian cancer but I had some medical complications,” she said.
The complainant narrated that she was admitted at the health center on June 12, 2019 for the surgery which was scheduled for June 13 and was discharged on June 16, 2019 with the assurance that the surgery had gone well and she was going to fully recover.
She said during her first visit to the hospital after the surgery, she was cleared by Dr. Enders after examination.
Madam Sehkelporh indicated that the situation continued for over a period of five months without any improvement, adding that she was drained financially while Dr. Enders allegedly showed no interest amid constant communication with him.
