The director of the National Health Service (SNS), Dr. Mario Lama is concerned for the future impact of the recent sentence handed down by the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) that orders the Ney Arias Lora Hospital to pay RD$10 million to a patient who sued the hospital for an infection caused the amputation of his right leg. The court ordered the compensation be paid by the Ministry of Hacienda.
Félix Julián Encarnación Féliz is a patient who in 2018 underwent an amputation of his right leg after being infected by a damaging bacteria during surgery at the Ney Arias Lora health center and sued the hospital, obtaining the sentence.
“The ruling undoubtedly creates a precedent, even a dangerous precedent. This was a case that occurred in 2016 and the amputation occurred in 2018. I do not know the case in detail, but there are always situations that increase the risks of events, not necessarily associated with bad practices, bad practice is often difficult to control, but it undoubtedly creates an important precedent in the Dominican Republic,” Lama said when questioned.
The doctor warned that this sentence “can change the rules of hospital dynamics.”
“We are making all the necessary interventions to continue improving the hospital network and that is where we are going, but the dynamics, the rules of the game, are modified by the situations that occur around the events,” he acknowledged.
“Doctors will take better care of themselves. Taking more care of themselves undoubtedly increases the costs and bureaucracy of services,” remarked Lama.
Lama pointed out that, in other countries, where medical lawsuits are frequent, the doctor-patient relationship has changed.
“The Ney Arias Lora is one of the safest hospitals in this country. In any institution that manages flow there can be anything, but the Ney Arias Lora is an excellent hospital,” he guaranteed.
In addition to Ney Arias, Lama praised the work of the pediatric Hugo Mendoza and the maternal Reynaldo Almánzar, all belonging to the Dra. Evangelina Rodríguez health city, in North Santo Domingo.
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Diario Libre
15 April 2024