Court Orders Dh2M Compensation After Fatal Childbirth Negligence at Hospital

A Dubai civil court has awarded Dh2 million in compensation to the husband and two children of a Gulf woman who died during childbirth, holding a private hospital and four of its doctors responsible for gross medical negligence that directly caused her death.

The judgment followed a final criminal ruling that convicted the four doctors of gross medical error, fined each Dh50,000 and ordered them to pay Islamic blood money to the woman’s heirs. The civil court said it was bound by the criminal court’s findings on the existence of the medical error and the attribution of liability.

Court documents show that the woman, who had conceived her second child through in-vitro fertilisation, required heightened medical care due to the sensitivity of her condition, according to Emarat Al Youm. After delivery, she developed severe post-partum haemorrhaging, which was not managed with the necessary urgency or competence, leading to a rapid decline in her condition and her death.

An investigation by Dubai’s Higher Committee for Medical Liability found that the treatment provided fell below accepted medical standards and that the failure to control the bleeding in time was the direct cause of death. The committee characterised the incident as negligence rather than an unavoidable medical complication.

The court ruled that the hospital was vicariously liable for the acts of its doctors and held that the family’s losses were not limited to financial harm but also included moral and psychological suffering. The compensation was divided among the defendants in proportion to their respective degrees of fault.

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