– I think this is Norway’s biggest hospital scandal, says lawyer Jan Inge Thesen. He represents the injured patients who have sued Sørlandet Hospital. Everyone who has now been notified that they will receive compensation has been operated on by the accused doctor, Jerlan Omarchanov. From before, around 60 patients have received compensation from Norwegian Patient Injury Compensation. Svein Are Auestad underwent incorrect surgery in Kristiansand. He lives today with so much pain that he can not work. Photo: Private But several have thus sued the health trust. They believe the hospital is responsible for the incorrect operations and system failure. – Sørlandet Hospital has now acknowledged responsibility for ten of the patient injuries. Soon we will come up with concrete sums for the various cases, says Thesen. Director approved transfer Omarchanov worked as a chief physician in orthopedics at the hospital in Flekkefjord for eleven years, without being a trained orthopedist. It knew, and accepted the management at Sørlandet hospital. Patients were destroyed for life. Several died after mistreatment. news revealed this, and the management chose to transfer Omarchanov to Kristiansand. The CEO, Nina Mevold, approved the transfer herself. It shows a meeting report news has had access to. He was allowed to continue to operate on patients alone. Several were injured for life there as well. Two of the patients who now receive compensation were operated on in Kristiansand. – The management should have taken the hat and gone For Finn Åge Olsen, who had to amputate, it is about more than that he will probably get a few thousand kroner extra. – I will never get my leg back anyway. Nor is it about a bad doctor. But that the hospital management knew about gross miscarriages, and yet did not stop Jerlan Omarchanov. Finn Åge Olsen had to amputate his leg after he underwent incorrect surgery. Photo: Per-Kåre Sandbakk / news – It is as serious as it can get. The management should have taken the hat and left. Will not resign But the CEO, Nina Mevold, does not intend to do so. – I want to repeat my strongest apologies to the patients for whom this has had consequences. What is important to me now is to continue the good and continuous quality and patient safety work. Nina Mevold has been CEO since 2018. She approved that Omarchanov was transferred to Kristiansand in 2019. Photo: Per-Kåre Sandbakk / news The Norwegian Board of Health Supervision has concluded that incorrect operations could have been avoided. Supervision cases and incorrect operations in Flekkefjord were known when Omarchanov was transferred. The public prosecutor has fined the hospital one million kroner in connection with his period in Kristiansand. The hospital itself has now acknowledged responsibility in ten patient cases. Rejection But the hospital has also rejected several cases, and given a preliminary no. The law firm Hjort DA will not quantify how many cases this applies to. They write in an email: We are in a dialogue with the lawyers of those who have filed redress claims against SSHF, but do not want to comment on individual cases or give further figures as long as we are in an ongoing process about this. According to lawyer Thesen, many of the refusals are justified by the fact that the hospital did not know that Omarchanov was a bad doctor. That the operations took place before the many supervisory cases. – They knew what he had done in Flekkefjord Margret Annie Gudbergsdottir had a complicated fracture in her hand. She was operated on alone by Omarchanov. Photo: Private But also incorrectly operated Margret Annie Gudbergsdottir has so far been refused compensation. She was operated on by Omarchanov in Kristiansand, when the cases from Flekkefjord were known. She can no longer work, and lives with intense pain day and night. news has seen the reasoning from the hospital. They believe they can not be readily charged that he performed the operation in her hand alone, without a chief physician present. Gudbergsdottir reacts strongly: – They knew what he had done in Flekkefjord, and yet they let him operate. How can it not be their responsibility? CEO Nina Mevold has been presented with all allegations. She will not go into individual cases in a legal process. May end up in court Lawyer Jan Inge Thesen believes one is facing a hospital scandal that is unparalleled in Norwegian history. Photo: PAUL PAIEWONSKY / ADVOKATFIRMAET ROBERTSEN So far, no sums have been negotiated. Sørlandet Hospital should first decide whether they acknowledge responsibility for the incorrect operations. – Patients deserve proper compensation. It is the only patch on the wound they can get, says Thesen. Sørlandet Hospital says compensation for personal injuries is normally in the range of 70,000 – 150,000 kroner per injury. Thesen believes that this does not apply to these cases: – In cases where there is a system failure, we are talking about completely different levels. He has experience from several compensation cases against health trusts. Thesis believes that several of the cases can end up in court if no agreement is reached. Both when it comes to sums, but also in those cases where the hospital denies guilt. – Then we also have four or five patient cases that are ongoing, and must be reported. We also recommend patients who have been injured to contact.
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Ten incorrectly operated patients receive compensation from Sørlandet Hospital – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
