Ipoh High Court awards couple RM155k in hospital negligence case
KUALA LUMPUR: The Ipoh High Court awarded RM155,000 in damages to a public hospital staff member and her husband after ruling that the hospital failed to conduct a mandatory risk assessment during her pregnancy, which led to a miscarriage in 2018.
Judicial commissioner Moses Susayan ruled in favour of Ahmad Azib Ahmad and his wife, Intan Shahrazad Azri, stating that the hospital administration's failure to implement a safe system of work for pregnant staff had directly contributed to the loss of the couple's unborn child.
Free Malaysia Today reported that the couple established their claim on a balance of probabilities.
Delivering the judgment online, Susayan said that employers are required to carry out a risk assessment to evaluate whether an employee can safely continue her duties upon becoming pregnant. He noted that this responsibility was not fulfilled.
"They failed to do so, and instead shifted the burden onto her to produce a written request," he was quoted as saying.
The court also awarded RM40,000 in costs to the plaintiffs.
The suit, filed in 2021, was against the government and the administrators of Teluk Intan District Hospital for violations of Sections 15 and 16 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), as well as for common law negligence.
Section 15 of OSHA, which applies to both public and private sector employers, states that they must provide a safe working environment for their employees. Section 16 requires employers to formulate suitable occupational safety and health policies at the workplace.
According to their statement of claim, Intan said she had undergone an "overburdened workload" during her second pregnancy in late 2018, as the hospital administrators failed to provide her with a co-worker. She stated that she had informed her superiors, but they only asked her to submit a doctor's letter stating that she could only do light duties.
Lawyer PA Sharon represented the couple, while senior federal counsel Norazlinawati Arshad and federal counsel Siti Hanida Abdul Kadir acted for the government.
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