The University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) has been ordered to pay millions in damages after the Supreme Court found that the facility “fell below the standard of care” expected of it and also “breached the duty of care” provided to a 16-year-old girl, who died six days after being admitted to the hospital in March 2018.

The girl’s parents later sued the hospital’s board of management for failing to “use all proper professional skill, care, competence, and diligence during their investigation, diagnosis, management, and treatment of their only child”.

The court on Friday awarded $1,687,380.19 “for pain and suffering” endured by the child prior to her death. For loss of life/loss of expectation of life, the court awarded $344,127.70 with interest at three per cent per annum from April 15, 2021 to July 31 this year. In assessing how much the child, who was described as “a perennial high achiever” and a “polyglot” (a person who knows, speaks, or writes several different languages) would have lost in terms of earnings from before the trial to the last hearing date the court awarded $6 million. In satisfying the parent’s claims for special damages, the court awarded $975,573.41 plus interest of three per cent per annum, from the date she died to the date the judgement was handed down. It also awarded US$8,000 in respect of the report prepared by the expert witness relied on in the case.