A mother in Kenya has won a court case against a major hospital in the capital for failed contraception. The woman whose case was heard at the high court has been awarded forty seven thousand dollars or 4.4 million Kenya Shillings to cater for the unplanned child.
According to Kenya’s Media-Standard online, the high court odered the hospital’s family planning clinic to pay the woman a further 500,000 for pain and her loss of comfort.
The court heard that the now mother of three visited the clinic for a long-term birth control as she did not want to have more children. The woman said the reason she did not want a third child was because she and her husband were already struggling to bring up their two children.
She told the court that on July 4, 2011, the hospital advised her that implanon was the most appropriate contraceptive method for her.
Implanon is a flexible plastic rod about the size of a matchstick that contains a progestin hormone called etonogestre. It is inserted just under the skin of the inner side of the upper arm. The court also heard after going through the medical procedure, she was assured that it would be safe to have sex with her husband without using any protection. She was assured that the implant would secure her from pregnancy for at least three years.
But she soon had the shock of her life when she realised that her periods had failed. She did a home pregnancy test and confirmed that that she, indeed, was pregnant. She rushed to the same hospital, which also confirmed she was pregnant. Other tests confirmed that the contraceptive had been implanted in her arm.
The woman blamed her pregnancy on the hospital staff’s negligence.
