Family sues after negligence settlement against MD goes unpaid.

ernment and College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan after it was unable to collect a $2.2-million negligence award because the physician involved had no malpractice insurance. Alana Marble suffered permanent brain damage in 1992 at the Kindersley Union Hospital in southwestern Saskatchewan. Her parents, John and Maureen Marble, initially sued the hospital and several physicians and nurses and were awarded a total of $2.7 million. The hospital settled out of court for $425 000, but there was no money to cover the rest of the award because the physician who was eventually found negligent, Dr. Simon Krige, had neglected to obtain malpractice insurance. The girl’s parents responded with a lawsuit alleging that the provincial government and College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan should have made sure that all doctors licensed to practise in the province are insured. John Marble says the couple needs the money to improve their daughter’s quality of life now and in the future. The college and province both deny that they have legal responsibility and have asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit. They are awaiting a ruling. The college’s position is that it did not create the risk and was not involved in making Alana Marble’s condition worse. “Until this case came to light, there was never a reason for us to imagine a doctor would ever practise without insurance,” says Dr. Dennis Kendel, the registrar. The case began in December 1992 in Alana Marble’s hometown of Eston. The young woman, 21 at the time, spent an evening studying at her recently deceased grandmother’s house; the next morning, she could not be roused from bed. She was taken to the Eston hospital in a semicomatose condition; hospital personnel determined that she must have taken her grandmother’s oxazepam. Before being transferred to the larger hospital at Kindersley, her family physician detected low blood sugar and administered glucose. At the Kindersley Union Hospital she was soon conscious, walking around the hospital and complaining of hunger. As a precaution, she was kept overnight. While at the hospital she lapsed into a coma, and by the time she emerged from it 3 days later, there had been permanent brain damage.