Housewife claims RM3.2m damages

NST: ALOR STAR: RM3.2 million.
This is what a middle-aged housewife and her family are claiming against Jitra Hospital for giving her HIV-contaminated blood six years ago.
If that sounds like a lot, it’s just a fraction of the RM100 million Bashah Mustaffa, 52, of Kampung Padang Pekan, Jitra, had originally asked for in general, aggravated and exemplary damages.
The reduced demand was contained in a written submission handed by her lawyer, Jagdeep Singh Deo, to High Court registrar Rozita Md Lazim yesterday.
Copies of the submission were distributed to the media. Bashah and her husband, Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid, 54, were both in court.
Jagdeep, in his submission, stated that the former Quran teacher was now asking for a reduced amount following a change in the trend of courts awarding huge amounts in damages.
The trend of filing wild libel claims and multi-million-ringgit awards, characteristic of the mid-1990s, was curbed in 2001 by then Chief Justice Tun Mohd Dzaiddin Abddullah, who described it as "a blot on the legal landscape".
Jagdeep said Bashah would not concede to a small sum because her condition was caused by "negligence of the highest order".
He said the mother of four was now asking for RM2 million in general damages for psychological trauma, humiliation, loss of reputation and loss of sexual desire.
She was asking for another RM500,000 and RM750,000 in aggravated and exemplary damages, bringing the total sum to RM3.25 million.
"Bashah now lives in fear," Jagdeep said. "The reality is that she may die prematurely as she no longer has immunity after being infected by the HIV virus."
Bashah, Halim and their four children, now aged between 18 and 28, had on May 16, 2000 filed a negligence suit against the director of the hospital, the director of the Kedah Health and Medical Services Department, the Health Ministry and the Government.
During the proceedings in chambers, the director of the hospital admitted in June 2003 that his staff had been negligent in treating Bashah, but denied responsibility for her husband and children. Their cases are still pending.
Bashah was warded at the hospital on April 28, 2000 for severe menstrual bleeding.
On April 30, she was given two pints of blood and asked to return for a blood test a week later. On May 8, she was taken to Alor Star Hospital, where she was told of the mistake.
On May 15 the same year, the Kedah state Health and Medical Services Department said the contaminated blood had been administered to Bashah before the hospital had received the results of the blood screening as required by the World Health Organisation.
Bashah’s plight shocked the nation and prompted the Cabinet to issue an apology to her and her family on May 17, 2000.
In her suit, Bashah claimed she had been handed the "death sentence" after receiving the contaminated blood as there is no cure for the HIV infection.