Woman awarded NIS 600,000 - after 30 years

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
A 31-year-old Carmiel woman has been awarded almost NIS 600,000 in compensation over a serious bacterial infection she suffered while hospitalized as a baby 30 years ago, reports www.mynet.co.il. The woman had to have several toes amputated because of the infection, and she is considered 33 percent disabled. According to the report, the woman was just seven months old when she was brought in to Haifa's Rambam hospital with diarrhea and a fever apparently caused by drinking spoiled milk. While being treated in hospital, she was struck with a bacterial infection that caused gangrene and resulted in a number of her toes being amputated. The report said that when the woman was 25, she issued a lawsuit against the hospital for negligence. It said that while a legal case generally had to be launched within seven years of an event, if a minor was involved, the seven years began to be counted from the time the person turned 18. The report said the woman had launched her lawsuit just before the deadline elapsed, and that since then both sides had been wrangling over the issue in court. But now lawyers for the woman and for the State of Israel, which is responsible for the hospital, have reached a compromise, and the Haifa District Court ratified their agreement last week. The agreement provides for the woman to be paid NIS 597,000 in compensation within 30 days. "Although we won in this case, it is important that people do not wait before issuing lawsuits, because in many cases a delay can be to their detriment and can even lead to the rejection of their lawsuit," the woman's lawyer said afterwards.