Man sues hospital for $1 billion after watching his wife’s C-section
Stewart Perrie
Featured Image Credit: WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images. skaman306/Getty Images
A man has tried to take a hospital to court over claims he suffered emotional distress from watching his wife give birth.
Anil Koppula launched legal action against Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne over what he believed was a breach in duty of care.
He says he was in the delivery room back in 2018 when his partner birthed their child via a C-section.
While the birthing process can sometimes be confronting, Koppula was horrified at what he saw.
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According to the Herald Sun, he claims he was 'encouraged' and 'permitted' to be in the room while the caesarean was conducted.
Seeing her internal organs and blood has stayed with him ever since and he's alleged it has caused 'the onset of a psychotic illness'.
Koppula says this illness led to the breakdown of his marriage.
As a result, the man wanted justice and decided to sue the hospital.
He wanted $1 billion in damages.
"Mr Koppula alleges that he was encouraged, or permitted, to observe the delivery, that in the course of doing so, he saw his wife's internal organs and blood," the lawsuit stated.
"He says that the hospital breached a duty of care it owed to him and is liable to pay him damages."
To assess the extent of his 'psychotic illness', he was examined by a medical panel earlier this year.
However, the panel discovered that his claims 'did not satisfy the threshold level'.
While he disputed the findings, he didn't do anything further to have the decision reversed or reassessed.
The Herald Sun says the case wound up in the Supreme Court and Justice James Gorton threw it out because it was an 'abuse of process'.
“The medical panel’s determination (is) that the injury is not a significant injury,” he said (via News Corp).
“I am satisfied that the legal effect of the medical panel’s determination is that Mr Koppula is simply unable, as a matter of law, to recover damages for non-economic loss.”
Royal Women's Hospital reportedly admitted that it did indeed have a duty of care for the man, however rejected the notion that it breached that duty during his partner's birth.
The hospital declined to comment when contacted by UNILAD.