Body of doctor who died in Mater Dei yet to be released due to ongoing legal battle

The body of a doctor who died last July has not yet been released to his family because of their insistence on pursuing legal action to hold an inquiry, according to a counter-protest filed by the Health Authorities on Friday. 

The family of Dr. Naged Megally, who died at Mater Dei Hospital last July, have continued their fight to have a magisterial inquiry determine whether he had been neglected by hospital staff who were providing him with care after several surgeries could have contributed to his death. 

In a judicial protest filed last month, the family accused hospital authorities of holding Megally’s body “hostage” and breaching their rights by refusing to allow a private autopsy to be held. 

They claim that Megally’s medical history had not been taken into account in his last days and that they had not been consulted on what they termed "life and death” decisions relating to his treatment.

A court has previously decided that there were insufficient grounds for a magisterial inquiry into the doctor’s death.

The family’s claims were refuted in a counter-protest filed on Friday by the Minister for Health, together with the Hospital CEO, Chief Medical Officer and Attorney General. They argue that the legal claims filed by the doctor’s family were the cause of the delay in releasing the body.

“Once (the family) have decided to go down the judicial route, they cannot expect the respondents to authorise a private autopsy, when it is not in their competence to do so,” reads the counter-protest.

The family had not indicated what law they were basing their claimed right to transfer their the body to a private hospital at their own expense, said the respondents, adding that as the courts had already denied previous requests for an autopsy, the family itself was now acting against its own stated wishes for the release of Dr. Megally’s  body, by opening new proceedings which had only led to further delays.

The claims of the deceased having been neglected by his doctors, had already been debunked in criminal proceedings and did not merit further consideration by a civil court, argued the lawyers, who labelled the family’s judicial protest as frivolous and vexatious, having the sole aim or tarnishing the respondents’ reputations.

“The hospital has always obeyed court orders and in no way tried to control how (the family’s) complaints were addressed,” the protest reads. 
“The fact that (they) were unhappy with the answers they received in no way indicates that we behaved as we pleased and should be taken to mean that we always followed the court’s directions.” 

While expressing sympathy for the family’s plight, the lawyers added that Megally’s fundamental rights were his own to enjoy and could not be transferred to his family to then claim a breach.

Lawyers Michael Sciriha, Lucio Sciriha and Franco Galea signed the counter-protest.