A resident of the Kyzylorda Region went to court after a gauze swab was left inside his body during an operation to remove a cyst. The foreign object was only discovered two months later during a second surgical procedure.
HOW THE GAUZE SWAB WAS DISCOVERED
According to the Supreme Court, the patient initially underwent surgery to remove a cyst. After the surgical procedure, he experienced severe pain for a long time, the wound would not heal, and an inflammatory process developed.
Two months later, the man went to another medical facility, where he underwent a second operation. During the procedure, doctors removed the gauze swab that had been left behind in the area of the previous surgery.
The presence of the foreign object was confirmed by the operation report, medical documentation, video footage, and statements from a representative of the facility where the patient received his follow-up treatment.
WHAT VIOLATIONS THE INSPECTION REVEALED
The post-operative complications were confirmed by medical documents and statements from the attending physician. The patient required daily dressings, and he paid for the second surgical procedure himself.
An unscheduled inspection by the authorised body responsible for monitoring the quality of medical services revealed numerous violations in the provision of medical care.
In particular, mandatory standards were not observed during the operation, and post-operative monitoring was carried out improperly. Violations were also found in the keeping of medical records: daily entries were incomplete, with no clinical interpretation of test results and no information about the examination of materials obtained during the operation.
WHAT DECISION THE COURT MADE
The patient demanded that the medical facility pay him compensation for material damage and moral harm.
Having examined the evidence presented, the court concluded that the defendant's guilt had been proven and upheld the claim. The medical facility was ordered to pay the patient more than 1.5 million tenge in compensation for moral harm and material damages.
