GEORGE TOWN, Jan 7 — Former national junior athlete Nor Azleen Mohammad Mustafa is suing a surgeon and hospital for more than RM4.6 million after a spinal operation left the young woman paralysed waist down.
The former sprinter aged 24, through her counsel Dr N. Ahilan, claimed the spinal corrective surgery 10 years ago had led to nerve damage and paralysis that destroyed her future, saying she could not secure a job and lost marriage prospects because of her condition.
“We filed the submission for the claims to the Deputy Registrar today and he has fixed January 22 for the High Court judge to hear the assessment of damages and decide on the amount to be awarded,” Ahilan told reporters after submitting the claims at the Penang High Court here today.
Nor Azleen also claimed she could not stand or sit for long periods of time and has to undergo long-term physiotherapy treatments.
She filed a medical negligence suit against Dr Omar Md Isa of Universiti Malaya Medical Faculty’s Orthopaedic Department and Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) several years ago after she was left partially paralysed from the spinal surgery on September 3, 2005.
She initially lost the case at a Penang High Court in 2012, but the Court of Appeal allowed last July her appeal to overturn the High Court’s dismissal of her claim.
The appellate court ordered the case to be sent back to the Penang High Court registrar for assessment of damages.
Ahilan said Nor Azleen was a 100-metre sprinter representing Penang and Malaysia in the junior championships before the surgery.
“Due to nerve damage from the surgery, she is now disabled and her ambition to be a national athlete is gone so we are submitting a claim of RM3 mil in general damages and RM1.6 million in special damages,” he said.
Until now, Nor Azleen is still a paraplegic and her condition is believed to be permanent.
