Hospital patients seek justice for alleged medical malpractice

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Sri Harjanto, 36, a resident of Kota Legenda in East Bekasi, still cannot accept that his wife, Sutini, 34, died while undergoing a minor operation on her nose earlier this year.

He said he had been assured by doctors there were no risks involved in the operation.

"Doctors told me it was only a minor surgery that carried with it no side effects. But my wife was in a coma when I saw her after the operation," said Harjanto, who has a 10-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter.

Harjanto said his wife's surgery was performed on Jan. 31. It began at 8 a.m and at about 11 a.m. the doctors came out of the operating room and asked him if his wife had an allergy to any medicine or high blood pressure, but they did not say what had happened during the surgery.

Sutini later lapsed into a coma and Harjanto was never able to talk with her before she died on Feb. 1. He said he did not receive a satisfactory explanation for his wife's death from either the doctors or Mitra Keluarga Hospital in East Bekasi, where the operation took place.

Assisted by the Legal Aid Institute for Health (LBH Kesehatan), Harjanto filed a malpractice suit against the doctors and the hospital on Monday.

Harjanto's lawsuit against Mitra Keluarga Hospital was one of four malpractice suits filed on Monday. The three others were filed at district courts in Central Jakarta, East Jakarta and Tangerang.

In his lawsuit, Harjanto demanded Rp 20.79 million (US$2,121) for material losses and Rp 3 billion for other losses.

"Initially, I only wanted an explanation for the death of my wife. I would have accepted if the hospital offered an apology. But the hospital never gave me a satisfactory explanation about what happened during the surgery," he told The Jakarta Post.

A spokeswoman for Mitra Keluarga in East Bekasi, Nia Nursantina, said on Tuesday the hospital had provided a comprehensive explanation about the death of Sutini.

"We explained to her family that her death was caused by a brain hemorrhage due to an irregularity in her brain blood canal. And they accepted our explanation at the time. But if they file a lawsuit, we are prepared for that," she told the Post.

She denied any malpractice occurred during the operation, saying the medical team followed standard procedures during the surgery.

LBH Kesehatan lawyer Leo Irfan Purba said victims of malpractice still found it difficult to get justice because the authorities, including judges, had little knowledge about malpractice.

"The problem is that their verdicts rely on testimony from doctors, who tend to protect their fellow doctors who are accused of malpractice," he said.

He said his organization had filed 22 malpractice suits since January. Two of the suits lost in court, a deal was reached in one case and the rest of the lawsuits are making their way through the courts.

Leo said his organization encouraged families of malpractice victims to seek justice not only to secure monetary compensation, but also to educate the public about their rights in the medical system.

"We just put our lives and the lives of our loved ones in the hands of doctors offering medical treatments and we have no idea what they are doing. Therefore, we are encouraging people to report any suspected malpractice," he told the Post on Tuesday.