A 24 year old Hong Kong woman is to sue her dentist after an operation to fix an underbite left her partially paralysed, SCMP reports.
The woman, Gwenic Ma Ka-man, suffered a stroke one night while still in hospital recovering from the 2012 operation. Doctors said it was probably caused by a blocked blood vessel in the left side of her neck which arose due to a blunder during surgery. The stroke left her partially paralysed, unable to move her right hand freely or walk without a crutch.
Ma said, "I believe the dental operation went wrong". "We contacted the orthodontist but were told the cause of the stroke could not be determined. I feel that the orthodontist has been trying to evade responsibility," she added.
Although Ma signed a document which acknowledged the risks involved in the surgery, her lawyer, Andrew Cheng Kar-foo said that this did not mean the medical practitioner was fully protected. Ma also maintained the document wasn't properly explained to her.
"I was given a sheet of paper to read on my own, but [the orthodontist] did not verbally explain the details to me," she said.
According to Cheng, the doctor could still be held responsible for the blunder despite Ma signing the document. Cheng advised Ma not to disclose the name of the hospital or her doctor.
[Image via Flickr]
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