Man says his leg was amputated without permission in Thailand

A Thai man who says his leg was amputated without his permission requested help from the Lawyers Council of Thailand on Wednesday after a failed lawsuit.

The patient told lawyers he went to the hospital to receive treatment for a wound on the sole of his foot. He underwent surgery and stayed in the hospital for seven days to be monitored.

However, the patient’s situation didn’t improve after a week and he was given a permission slip to sign entitled “wound repair” so he could undergo more surgery, so he signed it.

He woke up from surgery to find his left leg was completely amputated below the knee. He said there was nothing in the permission slip to suggest such drastic action would be taken.

The patient requested to look at the form and noticed an extra clause had been added right at the bottom saying, “cut off left leg.” He swears it wasn’t there when he signed the document and said doctors added it afterwards.

He says the hospital was negligent and reckless, and their lack of caution has caused him serious damage.

The victim filed a lawsuit against the doctor who cut off his leg and the hospital accusing them of “negligence causing serious harm.”

The investigating officer presented the case to a prosecutor who decided not to prosecute anyone from the hospital. The case went nowhere so the victim decided to go straight to the Lawyers Council of Thailand for help.

President of the Lawyers Council under Royal Patronage Wichien Chubthaisong assigned lawyers Pricha Senpanich and Naron Asa to investigate the case on Wednesday.

Pricha and Naron will collect evidence, investigate the facts and seek assistance from specialists with knowledge about medical negligence to help the victim in his quest to sue the hospital.

The lawyers didn’t say what sort of compensation the victim would be looking at receiving if the hospital were found guilty of negligence.

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