The court affirmed that a medical professional's negligence is established when their actions deviate from accepted standards of care, directly causing harm to the patient.

JUDGMENT

Hashim Hamzah JCA:

Introduction

[1] For ease of reference, parties to the present appeal shall be referred as they were before the trial Court below.

[2] This is the 2nd Defendant's appeal against the decision of the learned trial Judge who had allowed the Plaintiff's medical negligence claim against the 2nd Defendant. This appeal is against liability and quantum of damages.

Background Facts

[3] The learned trial Judge has thoroughly set out the background facts in her grounds of judgment. We respectfully adopt them with some modifications we deem necessary.

[4] The Plaintiff was 14 years old when he suffered a blunt trauma injury to his right eye during a tennis match on 30 August 2008. The Plaintiff was taken to Klinik Putra Perdana to receive treatment. The attending doctor at the clinic advised him to see a specialist. In his evidence, the Plaintiff said he experienced a temporary loss of vision for about 45 minutes.

[5] The Plaintiff then went to the emergency department at Subang Jaya Medical Centre ("SJMC") for treatment. Dr Salinder Kaur a/p Sauram Singh ("PW4"), who was on duty at that time, attended to the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff complained of impaired vision for 45 minutes. PW4 could not recall whether the Plaintiff had told her that he had suffered loss of vision.

[6] The Plaintiff was diagnosed as having a blunt injury to the right eye by PW4. It was noted that the Plaintiff's vision on the right side, which was impaired, was 6/18. The Plaintiff was short-sighted and needed glasses, but he did not bring his glasses on that day. The right eye was tender, the pupil was dilated, and it was not reacting to light. The conjunctiva of the right eye was congested. PW4 did a staining test, and the result was negative. The cornea was noted to be clear, and there was no hyphaemia noted in the right eye.

[7] PW4 was not an Ophthalmologist. PW4 called up the 2nd Defendant to discuss further treatment and any other investigations that she needed to do. The 2nd Defendant was (and still is) a Consultant Ophthalmologist at SJMC, which is owned, managed, and operated by the 1st Defendant. According to PW4, she had written down in the notes whatever was advised to her by the 2nd Defendant.

[8] On the instruction of the 2nd Defendant, PW4 prescribed steroids and pain relief to the Plaintiff. The 2nd Defendant had also instructed PW4 to get the Plaintiff back the next day to review his eye.

[9] On the next day, PW4 saw the Plaintiff again. PW4 said the Plaintiff came back with his glasses, and his vision in the right eye was 6/6, which was normal. The Plaintiff was to continue the medication prescribed the day before. He was also given two days of medical leave and an appointment to see the 2nd Defendant on 2 September 2008.

[10] On 2 September 2008, the Plaintiff sought treatment with the 2nd Defendant, who was the first Ophthalmologist that the Plaintiff had seen.

[11] The 2nd Defendant had conducted an examination on the Plaintiff in the presence of the Plaintiff's parents, PW2 and PW3. The 2nd Defendant's diagnosis was panuveitis, with a shallow Exudative Retinal Detachment ("ERD") confined mainly to the nasal, superior, and inferior retina.

[12] The 2nd Defendant said that there was a traumatic mydriasis of the right eye with microscopic hyphema, in which the right eye will be more sensitive to light for a while, but there will be no serious injury. The 2nd Defendant prescribed topical medication to the Plaintiff. However, the Plaintiff was not given any appointment date for a follow-up.

[13] Some three months had passed, and the Plaintiff claimed to still have a problem with his right vision. On 17 December 2008, the Plaintiff sought treatment at Poliklinik Ludher. He was, again, referred to SJMC.

[14] On 18 December 2008, the Plaintiff went to SJMC to see the the 2nd Defendant, but she was on leave on that day. The Plaintiff saw Dr Ahmad Fauzi bin Md Sharif ("PW6"), who was the next available specialist.

[15] During his examination of