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According to the Australian man, Anil Koppula, Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne owed him a duty of care to prevent him from witnessing his wife’s C-section procedure although he offered to be present of his own volition.
Reports say the plaintiff was allowed in the operating room in January 2018 during the procedure, and he saw his wife’s organs and blood.
Years later, Koppula went to court to sue the hospital for AU$ 1 billion in psychological damages allegedly occasioned by his witnessing of the surgical operation.
Aside from the psychotic illness, Koppula who represented himself in court asserted that his marriage collapsed as a result of the mental condition he developed due to the hospital’s failure in its duty of care to him.
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“Mr. Koppula alleges that he was encouraged, or permitted, to observe the delivery, that in the course of doing so, he saw his wife’s internal organs and blood. He says that the Hospital breached a duty of care it owed to him and is liable to pay him damages,” court documents read.
In its defence, the Royal Women's Hospital acknowledged that it had a duty of care to Koppula but added that it hadn't broken it because it usually permits women to have their husbands or other family members accompany them during a C-section for comfort.
The hospital went further to add that the said relatives are advised to refrain from interfering in the procedure in any manner and are informed of the specifics of the operation before they decide to witness it.
To determine whether the C-section that Koppula witnessed had any psychological effect on him, he underwent a medical examination.
“The degree of psychiatric impairment resulting from the injury to the claimant alleged in the claim does not satisfy the threshold level,” the medical examination result read.
Although he rejected the medical report, he failed to apply for a review, compelling the Royal Women's Hospital to ask the Supreme Court of Victoria to dismiss the case and it did.
“I am therefore satisfied that the legal effect of the Medical Panel’s determination is that Mr Koppula is simply unable, as a matter of law, to recover damages for non-economic loss,” Justice Gorton of the court is quoted to have ruled.
Men, if you don’t have the mental, cardiovascular and emotional fortitude to witness your wife’s C-section, you owe yourself a duty of care just as the hospital does.