- A man in Australia tried to sue a Melbourne hospital for AU$1 billion for psychological damage.
- He alleged he was "encouraged" to watch his wife have a cesarean section.
A man in Australia accused a hospital in Melbourne of causing him to develop a "psychotic illness" after he watched his wife undergo a cesarean section, the local news outlet 7News was the first to report.
Anil Koppula tried to sue the Royal Women's Hospital for letting him watch his wife give birth via C-section in 2018.
He unsuccessfully sought 1 billion Australian dollars, which is about $643 million, a judgment on the lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne last week shows.
The cesarean was ultimately a success, but the man said in the lawsuit that the hospital failed in its duty of care to him by letting him watch the procedure.
He said the hospital "encouraged" or "permitted" him to watch the operation and seeing his wife's organs and blood caused him psychological injury, according to the lawsuit.
A cesarean section is a common operation in which a surgeon delivers a baby "through a cut made in your tummy and womb," according to the UK's National Health Service.
The surgical procedure is often performed when another course is dangerous or difficult and poses a risk to the mother or baby.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 32.1% of all baby deliveries in the US in 2021 were by cesarean section.
Koppula filed the lawsuit several years after the operation, saying it caused the onset of a "psychotic illness" that led to a "breakdown of his marriage," the judgment said.
Koppula chose to represent himself in court, where Justice James Gorton dismissed the suit and deemed the claim an "abuse of process."
The trial proceedings included a medical examination of Koppula, with the panel concluding the degree of psychiatric impairment did not "satisfy the threshold level," according to the judgment.
Lawsuits that are seeking damages for non-economic losses, such as this one, require that an injury is "significant," the judgment said, citing Australian legislation.
With regards to the medical panel's conclusion, Koppula said he disagreed with it, though the judgment said that he was unable to "agitate the correctness" of it.
The case was dismissed on September 12.
This article has been updated with details from the judgment.