Dokrak Petchprasert won a court case and was awarded Bt800,000 in damages in 2005 for a treatment in 1999 that left her blind.

She had visited a clinic complaining of a cold and a doctor injected her with a medicine she was allergic to, penicillin, causing her to lose her sight.

Dokrak yesterday said fate must be against her. She had sought treatment from a state hospital on March 7 but was denied it, she said.

At the same hospital last October a doctor injected her with penicillin without studying her medical records.

"When the doctor gave me the injection, I started shaking and panting. The feelings were similar to the first time I was injected with the medicine. So, I asked the doctor and was shocked when he answered that ... he had injected me with penicillin," Dokrak said.

After she told him about her allergy, the doctor gave her an antidote, she said.

"I heard a doctor say sarcastically about me ... 'give her the best treatment, otherwise we might have to lose another million baht'," she said.

Dokrak was forced to leave the hospital as soon as she recovered from the allergy.

Dokrak, who suffers from asthma and needs a respirator, has had to return to her home in Nonthaburi where she lives with her 10-year-old daughter.

She said the compensation she received from the ministry two years ago is almost gone as she has to pay for the medical treatment she receives five times a month.

Secretary-general of the Medical Council of Thailand Dr Amnaj Kusalanand said legislation on compensation for people harmed by medical treatment would be finished within two weeks.

The council was also working on a legal amendment to prevent criminal cases against doctors who are found not to have been seriously negligent.

Council president Dr Somsak Lolekha said there had been about 1,000 complaints of medical mistreatment.