Man wins €42,000 in damages after cardiac procedure left him crippled

A man has won €42,000 in damages after an angioplasty procedure carried out by heart specialist Albert Fenech damaged his nerve and left him crippled.

The appeals court on Friday confirmed the original court judgment against the Principal Medical Officer and Fenech, ruling in favour of the patient, Vincent Gauci.

Gauci had undergone an angioplasty procedure in August 1999 at St Luke’s Hospital. The procedure was carried out through the right femoral artery by Prof. Albert Fenech.

Immediately after the operation, the plaintiff could not walk unaided and started suffering from excruciating pain that should have not manifested itself following the type of operation he underwent.

The patient had to rely on crutches to be able to walk after the operation damaged a nerve.

On the 23 October 2013, the First Court decided, after consulting the conclusions of various experts, that the Principal Medical Officer and Albert Fenech were jointly responsible for the damages suffered by Gauci and ordered the payment of €41,732.

Fenech and the Principal Medical Officer appealed. However, this was today rejected by the court, which confirmed the original judgment in its entirety.

During proceedings, Gauci’s lawyer emphasised that it was Fenech who had released a medical certificate dated 5October 2001 in which he clearly stated that the man, “…is a patient of mine who unfortunately developed severe neuralgia in the groin following angiography”.

This meant that there should be no doubt in the court’s mind that the damages suffered by Gauci were the result of the same medical intervention. 

The appeals court argued that it was the defendants who were duty bound to prove that the correct procedure was followed as they were claiming. This evidence was never brought forward and given the failure to prove that the best medical practices were observed, the court confirmed the first judgment.

Lawyers Edward Zammit Lewis and Matthew Bondin were legal counsel to Gauci.

The appeals court was presided by judges Giannino Caruana Demajo, Noel Cuschieri and Anthony Ellul.