The Government is to pay $500,000 in damages to a man who had surgery performed on the wrong side of his body at the Spanish Town Hospital in April 1998.

Laxlie Greenland, 65, mason and farmer, of Pembroke Hall, St Mary, testified in the Supreme Court that when he woke up after the surgery he noticed that he was having pains on his right side. Hall then realised that the surgery which was to be performed to his right side was actually done to the left.

Written wrong information

Greenland said a hospital worker had written the wrong information on his admission card.

Two weeks later, he had to undergo surgery to the left side of his abdomen to remove a hernia.

Greenland, who was represented by attorney-at-law Roy Stewart, sued to recover damages for negligence.

The defendants, the hospital board of management and the attorney general, opposed Greenland's claim on the grounds that there was no negligence. It was argued that although the surgery was first done to the incorrect side, the doctor had removed a small hernia from the right side. The defendants suggested that any award to Greenland should not exceed $50,000.

Supreme Court judge Carol Beswick held Tuesday that there was a breach of duty at the hospital and awarded Greenland $500,000 with interest for pain and suffering. He was also awarded $31,000 with interest for special damages.

The judge said that despite the serendipitous first surgery, it was done without Greenland's consent. The judge said a fundamental error had occurred, referring to the misrecording of information by hospital personnel.