KUALA LUMPUR – A 65-year-old man who suffers from retrograde ejaculation following a 2017 surgery has had his RM357,610 in monetary damages upheld by the Shah Alam High Court.
The court recently confirmed the previous ruling, allowing him to retain the awarded compensation.
On July 7, Judicial commissioner Choong Yeow Choy upheld the Selayang sessions court’s decision made last year.
The court had granted the man RM150,000 in general damages for pain, suffering and loss of quality of life; RM200,000 in aggravated damages; and RM7,610 for future general damages.
However, Choong reduced the costs awarded by the sessions court from RM40,000 to RM20,000. Additionally, the defendants – the government, Health Ministry, Selayang Hospital director and five doctors – were ordered to pay the patient RM10,000 for the costs of the appeal.
In a recently published court judgment, Choong noted that this case was the first of its kind involving claims for damages due to retrograde ejaculation and set a precedent for cases involving infertility.
Retrograde ejaculation is a medical condition where semen enters the bladder instead of exiting through the penis during orgasm.
Court documents reveal that the victim filed the suit against the defendants in 2020, citing medical negligence.
He said he had visited Selayang Hospital in 2017 for slight prostate gland swelling. There, he was referred to the hospital’s urologist, the fourth defendant in the suit.
The urologist examined him by inserting a tube into his urethra and recommended a “urethral resection of the prostate” surgery.
The patient claimed he was not given any counselling or alternative treatment options and was not informed of common post-surgery risks, including retrograde ejaculation. He also alleged the hospital did not obtain his informed consent before the surgery.
Post-surgery, the patient experienced a burning sensation in his penis, which the doctor dismissed as normal. After being discharged, he continued to feel the burning sensation during urination and noticed clumps being discharged from his urethra, with no semen flow.
As a result, he suffered from anxiety and confusion while awaiting his next hospital appointment. During a follow-up visit, the eighth defendant informed him that the complication was common and had no remedy.
The man’s inability to produce semen deprived him of the potential to have children and strained his intimate relationship with his wife, leading to family members labelling him as “barren”. These factors severely impacted his self-esteem and mental health, resulting in a diagnosis of major depressive disorder with anxious distress.
The man had also filed a formal complaint with the hospital. Before filing the suit, he and his lawyer struggled to obtain his medical report from Selayang Hospital until a court order was issued.
Adding to his distress, it was revealed during the trial that the hospital had discovered on May 5 that its doctors had committed medical negligence. However, the patient was not informed until the case was brought to court. – July 17, 2024