Page 11 - IAV Digital Magazine #578

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
A Man Tried To Sue A Hospital For $643M After He Was ‘Encouraged' To Watch His Wife's C-section
By Rebecca Rommen
A man in Australia accused a hospital in Melbourne of causing him to develop a "psychotic illness" after he watched his wife undergo a cesarean section, local news
outlet 7News report- ed.
Anil Koppula tried to sue the Royal Women's Hospital for letting him watch his wife give birth via C- section in 2018.
He sued for A$1 bil- lion, which is about $643 million, 7NEWS reported.
The cesarean was a success, but the man
claims the hospital failed in its duty of care to him by letting him watch the proce- dure, the 7News report says.
He said the hospital "encouraged" or "per- mitted" him to watch the operation and that seeing his wife's organs and blood caused the mental ill-
ness he claimed to have, it adds.
A cesarean section is a common operation in which an surgeon delivers a baby "through a cut made in your tummy and womb," according to the National Health Service.
The surgical proce- dure is often per- formed when another course is dangerous or difficult and poses a risk to the mother or baby.
According to
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 32.1% of all baby deliveries in the US in 2021 were by cesarean section.
Koppula filed the law- suit several years after the operation, claiming he is owed damages because of the life-changing psy- chological injury he
allegedly obtained.
In his legal claim, he said the "psychotic ill- ness" led to a "break- down of his mar- riage," per 7News.
Koppula chose to rep- resent himself in court, where Justice James Gorton dis- missed the suit and deemed the claim an "abuse of process," according to Global News.
The trial proceedings included a medical examination of Koppula. The panel concluded that the allege psychological effect on Koppula was insufficient.
It found that "the degree of psychiatric impairment resulting from the injury to the claimant alleged in the claim does not satisfy the threshold level," 7News report- ed.
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