Health Bureau ordered to pay over 118,000 patacas
A Health Bureau (SSM) medical worker at the Seac Pai Van (Coloane) Temporary Health Station, who “accidentally” broke a parent’s (referred to as A) tailbone (coccyx) when vaccinating the victim’s son, was required to pay A 118,684.42 patacas in compensation for his or her injury, the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) says in a recent statement.
According to the statement, on March 21, 2018, A, whose gender was not revealed, took his or her son to the Seac Pai Van (Coloane) Temporary Health Station to get vaccinated. A said that in the vaccine room, the son was sitting on A’s lap while the parent was sitting on a chair when the nurse was inoculating the son with two jabs and then asked another SSM medical worker (referred as B) for assistance. The statement pointed out that the son needed to have his third jab in his thigh, so A followed the nurse’s instruction and temporarily stood away from the chair to lay the son on a bed. The statement said that as the room is small and in order to make room for people, B moved the chair without telling A. After the son had been vaccinated, the statement added, A was going to help the son put his shoes back on, but he or she did not know that the chair had been moved, so as he or she went to sit down, where the chair had been, A fell heavily on the ground breaking his or her tailbone.
The statement noted that a doctor said that A’s tailbone had been fractured, pointing out that the recovery period ran from March 21 – June 8, 2018. The statement said that A reported the case to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), and accused B of breaching Macau Penal Code Article 142, i.e., “causing physical harm by negligence”. The Court of First Instance (TJB) ruled that the bureau had to pay 98,684.42 patacas in compensation for A’s injury, the statement added, comprising 67,946.02 patacas for A’s loss of salary, 738.40 patacas for A’s medical treatment, and 30,000 patacas for non-physical property damage.
The statement said that A disagreed with the ruling and appealed to the Court of Second Instance (TSI). The statement pointed out A said that 30,000 patacas for non-physical property damage was unable to compensate him or her for the pain he or she experienced and urged the TSI panel of judges to increase the compensation to no less than 100,000 patacas. The statement said that the panel considered that A’s injury had caused extreme inconvenience to his or her daily life such as having an 80-day recovery period, experiencing extreme back pain, not being able to take care of his or her family, and causing emotional instability due to the injury. The court said in order to compensate A for the difficulties he or she experienced due to the accident, the compensation for non-physical property damage should be 50,000 patacas, whereas the other payments would remain the same.
Consequently, the TSI panel ruled that the bureau should pay A118,684.42 patacas as compensation plus interest.
