Meet Sabrin Farej

To my dear friends and colleagues,

 
I wanted to tell you about a special young girl named Sabrin who has impacted my life in ways I didn’t know possible.

 Sabrin is among the most injured and vulnerable members of our society.  She is a 13 year old girl who cannot walk or talk and is fed by G-tube.  She requires awake, observed care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. What is amazing is that Sabrin knows her surroundings. She likes her school and her TV shows and she loves her family; her two older brothers Murad and Monti and her mother Amara.

 To add to the family’s heartache, Sabrin’s father died in 2015, leaving his son’s Murad and Monti to step up at home while attending highschool/university and maintaining outstanding grades. The family lives in government funded housing with limited means available through subsidies and limited respite with an overnight nurse a few nights a week.  Aside from that minimal assistance it is Amara, Murad and Monti who step into the role of full-time caregiver to make sure their sister/daughter Sabrin is monitored and stimulated.

 I met Sabrin and her family in 2015, when my colleague Daniela Pacheco and I took over carriage of a lawsuit that had been filed on her behalf, alleging medical negligence during her birth. 

 We tried Sabrin’s case before a judge in London, Ontario over a 5 week period in the spring of 2019.  The case was complex and hard fought.  On behalf of Sabrin, we alleged that the obstetrician who was responsible for her delivery, breached the standard of care in failing to take Amara to the operating room and performing an immediate Caesarian section.  Instead, the doctor tried to deliver Sabrin with forceps, and when that failed, he tried different forceps and when that failed, he went back to the first type of forceps before finally being able to deliver Sabrin.  During the time that the doctor was repeatedly attempting different forceps, Sabrin was not getting sufficient oxygen to her brain.  By the time Sabrin was delivered, she had sustained massive and irreversible brain damage.  On behalf of Sabrin, we alleged that the doctor had breached the standard of care in 6 sequential ways and all the while, also failed to even ask for Amara’s consent let alone obtain it. 

 
During the course of the trial, what I remember most are not the details of the trial but the many visits to Amara’s welcoming home. Amara is from Eritrea, and she would include us in traditional coffee ceremonies and family meals.  When I reflect back, knowing of the family’s dire financial situation, I realized that the spreads of traditional foods from their home country that were graciously and royally laid out for us represented a sizeable percentage of the family’s entire monthly budget. Amara could not stand the thought of us being away from our own families and not having a home cooked meal during the trial period. Amara not only invited us into her home but she invited us into her family’s life and hearts.

 
In July, 2020, almost 11 months after the trial had finished and the parties had made their final arguments, the trial judge released her decision.  She found that the doctor met the standard of care and dismissed Sabrin’s case.  We were devastated, and even more so because we could not understand the basis for the decision or explain it to Sabrin’s family.  The trial judge did not make a decision on most of the breaches that Sabrin had alleged and found that because the doctor had been delivering babies for 33 years, he would not have done it wrong even where we argued that the evidence and the relevant guidelines established that he had.  We have appealed that decision on Sabrin’s behalf and will pursue her legal rights to the end.  Sabrin deserves justice.  She and her family deserve to have answers to the legitimate allegations of negligence that have been made. 

 
The dismissal of Sabrin’s case means that she will not receive the supports and services that everyone agrees she reasonably requires unless and until the judgment of the trial judge is overturned by the Ontario Court of Appeal.  This means that Amara and the boys will get no more help, and no more rest.  They will continue to face the daunting task of caring for Sabrin with her complete care needs with only the most minimal of governmental assistance, even more reduced by the ravages of the global pandemic and the additional hurdle of social distancing and limited care providers. 

 
This unimaginable injustice has caused me to start this much needed GoFundMe campaign on behalf of this family; who despite the hardships they face on a daily basis welcomed my team and I into their lives with open arms and accepted the devastating verdict with grace and kindness.

 I know that any monies I could donate or raise would go directly to the most important cause I have had the honour of being a part of:  Sabrin and her care.