Chandrani Epitawala vs Kothmale Gajanayake Mudiyanselage Sanduni Rasanjali Bandara and others – SC APPEAL NO. 152/2011-2018

In the case between Kothmale Gajanayake Mudiyanselage Sanduni Rasanjali Bandara and Kothmale Gajanayake Mudiyanselage Priyantha Bandara (on behalf of a minor) (Plaintiffs) and E. Chandrani alias Chandrani Epitawala (Dias Memorial Hospital), Western Provincial Council, and the Attorney General’s Department (Defendants), the court addressed the issue of whether the actions of the nurse in cannulating a critically ill infant constituted medical negligence and whether such negligence was attributable to her employer via vicarious liability. It was held that the failure to properly insert and monitor the cannula, resulting in arterial injury and eventual amputation of the patient’s left arm, amounted to medical negligence and not a medical misadventure. The principle reaffirmed was that a healt