UAE Court Orders Hospital and Doctor to Pay Dh350,000 Compensation to Father Over Vaccination Error

An Abu Dhabi court has upheld a compensation ruling in favour of a father whose son suffered due to a medical error during a vaccination procedure, ordering a hospital and a doctor to jointly pay Dh350,000. The decision reinforces the legal principle that, under UAE law, while doctors are not accountable for the mere failure of a patient to recover, they are held liable if they fail to exercise the level of care required in medical practice.

 

The case originated in Al Ain, where the father filed a lawsuit against a hospital and one of its doctors, claiming that the doctor committed a professional error in the way the vaccination was administered. Although the mistake did not result in any permanent disability for the child, the father argued that the doctor injected the vaccine in the wrong place and did not follow the proper medical method, thereby breaching professional standards.

 

The Medical Liability Committee, after reviewing the complaint, confirmed that a medical error had indeed occurred. Following this assessment, the Court of First Instance ruled in the father’s favour and awarded Dh300,000 in damages, holding both the hospital and the doctor responsible.

 

Unhappy with this verdict, the doctor and the hospital filed an appeal. However, the Court of Appeal not only upheld the initial decision but increased the compensation to Dh350,000, relying on the findings of the Supreme Medical Liability Committee’s report, which highlighted the shortcomings in the vaccination process.

 

The matter was subsequently taken to the Court of Cassation after the doctor and the hospital lodged another appeal, this time attempting to shift part of the financial liability to their insurance provider. The court, however, rejected this plea, clarifying that under UAE law, insurance disputes must first be submitted to the specialised Insurance Dispute Resolution Committee. Since this legal requirement was not met, the appeal was dismissed.

 

In its final ruling, the court confirmed that the hospital and the doctor were jointly liable for the compensation. The judgment further clarified the basis of the hospital’s liability, citing Article 313 of the Civil Transactions Law, which stipulates that an employer is responsible for the acts of its employees if the harm is caused during the performance of their professional duties. This meant that the hospital, as the supervising entity, shared responsibility with the doctor for the error.

 

The court reiterated the broader legal principle guiding medical liability in the UAE: doctors are not automatically accountable if a patient fails to recover from an illness, but they are legally responsible if they neglect to exercise the level of diligence, care, and professional competence expected of them. The standard of “necessary care” is defined as the attention, knowledge, and skill that an ordinarily vigilant and reasonably qualified doctor would provide in the same circumstances, in line with established scientific standards and accepted medical practices.

 

The ruling not only provided closure for the father but also reaffirmed the UAE’s legal framework governing medical malpractice, which seeks to balance the protection of patients with fairness towards medical practitioners by holding them accountable when negligence or improper procedures are established.

 

 

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