A judge has ordered that almost $60,000 in damages be paid to a man who suffered “one of the most unpleasant experiences that a human can undergo” at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Father-of-two Kamal Williams was forced to wait more than ten hours for a desperately-needed appendectomy at the hospital in May, 2011, despite screaming in pain in the emergency room.

The delay led to a ruptured appendix, causing fecal material to leak into his abdominal cavity, sending him into septic shock.

“Mr Williams has undergone one of the most unpleasant experiences that a human can undergo. That experience was life-threatening,” Puisne Judge Stephen Hellman told a Supreme Court hearing yesterday.

The judge ordered that Bermuda Hospitals Board pay the victim $58,000 in general damages for the injuries he suffered as a result of its negligence, and the digestive problems he has had since the surgery.

Mr Justice Hellman said the hospital was also liable for medical expenses of almost $42,000, and $14,400 for loss of earnings. BHB’s lawyer Allan Doughty queried the amount for medical expenses, arguing that it should be several thousand dollars lower, and the judge asked him, and opposing counsel Jai Pachai, to calculate the correct amount and advise him.

Mr Williams told The Royal Gazette after the hearing that the amount awarded to him was a “victory, somewhat” but that he had hoped to win damages of $100,000.

“It’s not what I wanted, but it’s better than what I had,” he said. “I would have liked to get the full amount just because of the severity of what I went through.”

Mr Justice Hellman warned Mr Williams during yesterday’s hearing that he should not expect the kind of damages often awarded in US litigation, as Bermuda’s justice system followed the English model.

“I want you to understand, Mr Williams, that had this been the United States, this might have been a much higher figure,” he said. “I appreciate how serious, and how horrible it was, but in giving an award of damages I have to look at similar cases.”

The judge said he had to align the amount awarded with past cases in English law, and take into account the fact that though the initial injuries were life-threatening, there had not been serious long-lasting effects.

“I do feel that our court systems are different than the United States but I feel like, based on what happened to me, I should have received more but I’m not unappreciative of the fact that the court did see it our way,” Mr Williams said.

He was initially awarded $2,000 in damages by Mr Justice Hellman in the Supreme Court, but appealed that decision in the Court of Appeal, which ruled in March that the “numerous delays” at the hospital contributed to the damage he suffered, and the amount should be reassessed.

The higher court’s appeal panel found that the wait for surgery was “inordinate” when “viewed against the background of the physical signs exhibited by the appellant on his arrival at the KEMH, his tossing and screaming”.

Mr Williams, of Southampton, arrived at KEMH at 10.15am on May 30, 2011 but his operation did not begin until about 10.15pm that night, when surgeons discovered that his appendix had ruptured causing complications, including sepsis.

He remained on a respirator in the intensive care unit for six days after the surgery, and was in hospital for two weeks.

Yesterday, he gave evidence to Mr Justice Hellman about the long-term impacts. He said he visited his GP in August, 2011 with digestive problems but had not sought medical help since, although the issues persisted, because he accepted it was an ongoing condition.

“It’s just something I live with on a day-to-day basis,” he said.

The court heard that Mr Williams’s physician diagnosed adhesions [internal scar tissue] as a complication of the perforated appendix, which the judge determined was not a “serious long-term consequence”.

Mr Williams, a risk analyst, was awarded costs by the judge. He has pledged to give a portion of his damages to teenager N’Keema Virgil after he read about her brave battle against brain cancer in The Royal Gazette.

Mr Doughty said during yesterday’s hearing that BHB would seek leave to appeal the Court of Appeal’s ruling to the Privy Council in London.