ENT specialist faces 79 mln lira penalty for child’s post-surgery brain injury

Meltem Özgenç – GAZİANTEP

A consumer court has ordered an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist to pay 79 million Turkish Liras (approximately $1.9 million) in damages plus interest to the family of a 3-year-old boy who suffered brain damage following a tonsil surgery.

While the case continues, the doctor, identified only by the initials H.B., told the daily Hürriyet that the ruling was unfair, saying, “Even if I worked for another 30 years, I couldn’t pay this amount.”

The incident dates back to 2018, when the child was treated at a private hospital. According to the doctor, the patient initially underwent adenoid surgery after the family declined tonsil removal. Ten months later, the child’s condition worsened, prompting a tonsil operation.

Post-surgery, complications developed, including pneumonia and throat bleeding, leading to the boy’s brain injury.

The doctor said the child’s father carried him from the fifth floor to the ground level during a critical emergency, which delayed intervention. “The child choked on his own blood, his heart stopped and although it was restarted, his brain was affected,” the doctor said. Both an expert report and a Health Ministry commission concluded he was not negligent.

The boy’s father, identified by the initials Ö.B., contested that claim, stating the doctor failed to check on his son despite being in the same hospital and that the medical team never recorded the child’s blood type.

General surgeon Oktay Banlı commented that such high compensation rulings could discourage young doctors from choosing surgical fields. “If this continues, no surgeon will dare to operate,” he stated.