Alsuwaidi & Company has secured a favourable judgment on behalf of a client who suffered avoidable harm following surgical treatment at a private hospital in Dubai. The Court found that the treating physicians had failed to observe established medical and professional standards and held both the doctors and the hospital jointly liable for the damage our client sustained.
Brief of the Case
Our client sought treatment for persistent acid reflux and abdominal pain. After tests revealed a hiatal hernia, severe oesophageal inflammation and a diagnosis of Barrett’s oesophagus, he underwent surgery to repair the hernia, combined with a fundoplication.
His recovery did not go as expected. In the months that followed, his condition deteriorated sharply, yet the care he received amounted to little more than pain relief and a recommendation to wait. Only after seeking an independent opinion did he learn that the original surgery had failed and that further surgery would be needed. When he requested the recording of his procedure, he was told it was unavailable due to a technical fault, leaving him without a clear record of what had happened.
The Legal Framework
Medical negligence claims in the UAE are governed by Federal Decree-Law No. 4 of 2016 on Medical Liability. A defining feature of this framework is that a compensation claim arising from medical liability cannot proceed before the courts until the matter has first been examined by the competent Medical Liability Committee. This specialist committee is responsible for determining whether a medical error occurred, identifying its cause, and assessing the resulting harm and the causal link between the two.
The law sets a clear standard of care: every practitioner must perform their duties with the diligence, integrity and skill that the profession demands, and in line with recognised scientific and professional standards. A medical error includes failing to follow accepted professional and medical practice and failing to exercise the necessary degree of care, and, importantly, the error need not be serious for liability to arise.
Our Approach
On behalf of our client, we pursued a complaint before the Medical Liability Committee. Following a full investigation, the Committee concluded that a medical error had occurred during the course of our client’s treatment, and that the established medical standards had not been observed.
Crucially, the report of the Medical Liability Committee becomes final and binding where it is not formally challenged within the thirty-day statutory period. As the defendants did not lodge a grievance against the report, its findings on the existence of the medical error stood as conclusive, establishing the fault firmly against the treating physicians.
Court’s Decision
Building on the Committee’s findings, we established the hospital’s responsibility on the basis of the principle of employer liability. Under UAE law, an employer may be held liable for the wrongful acts of those under its actual supervision and direction, where the wrongdoing occurs in the course of, or by reason of, their employment. As the treating physicians were working for the hospital, which exercised genuine supervisory authority over them, the Court held the hospital jointly responsible for the harm caused to our client.
In assessing compensation, the Court recognised both the material harm our client suffered, including the need to undergo further surgery, and the moral and psychological harm flowing from the physical pain and distress he endured over an extended period.
The Court delivered judgment in our client’s favour, ordering:
- The hospital and the surgeon, jointly, to pay our client AED 280,000 in compensation for material and moral damage;
- The hospital and the second physician, jointly, to pay our client AED 120,000 in compensation for material and moral damage;
- Legal interest of 5% on both sums from the date the judgment becomes final until full and final payment; and
- The defendants, jointly, to bear the case fees, expenses and a contribution towards legal costs.
Key Lesson
This outcome reflects the careful, evidence-led approach our firm brings to medical negligence claims. These cases turn not only on demonstrating that something went wrong, but on navigating a specialised regulatory process, securing and protecting the findings of the Medical Liability Committee, and establishing the responsibility of every party involved, including the institutions that stand behind individual practitioners.
For patients who have been let down by the very people they trusted with their care, the path to accountability can feel daunting. Our role is to make that path clear, to advance our clients’ claims with rigour, and to ensure that those responsible are held to account.
The matter was led by Reda Hegazy, Partner and Head of the Litigation Practice Group, together with Mohamed Elimam, Associate. Both specialise in civil medical negligence claims before the UAE courts.