medical negligence case

In a landmark judgement, the apex court last week had ordered one of the largest compensations ever recorded in the country for a medical negligence case that drew attention from all quarters. Following the direction of the Supreme Court, Tamil Nadu government would now have to pay an amount of Rs 1.8 crore to an 18-year-old Chennai girl who lost her vision at the time of birth due to negligence of doctors in a government-run institute.

The incident has once again pressured the concerned authorities to ponder about a medical negligence law that can curb the rising incidence of such oversight in the healthcare sector.

A Delhiite has  a similar story to share...

Be it Chennai or Delhi, the story of a patient suffering due to medical negligence remains the same. The young girl waged a long battle of 18 years after suffering a permanent loss in vision before a compensation award was announced for her that could ease her struggle from hereon. Similar to the case in point, a resident of Sanjay Basti, Timarpur, Waseem Illiyas also fought for almost seven years before his plea was heard.

Waseem's father had been ill for over 10 years. Due to constant troubles in swallowing, Waseem had got him operated in 2008 but the incorrectly executed surgery aggravated the senior citizen's troubles. “He had some problem in swallowing food. After eating something, he could not digest the food and vomited. We took him to Sant Parmanand hospital on July 29, 2008 and consulted Dr Smita Gupta and Dr Gita Srivastava who were ENT specialists. The doctors advised for a throat operation. My father was discharged within four days of the surgery. However, soon after, he was in even more pain and the problem persisted,” he tells iamin.

After a complaint was submitted to Delhi Medical Council (DMC) by Waseem, it was highlighted that doctors had not followed standard surgical practices. The conscent form that Waseem signed earlier did not even mention the surgical procedure for which consent was being taken. “Lack of any explanation to the patient in the conscent form is a procedural lapse,” stated the report given by DMC.

Waseem had to run errands at AIIMS, Safdarjung and other hospitals to get his father treated. “The doctors at Sant Parmanand hospital had found a small pouch in my father's throat. Many doctors who I referred later suggested that a surgery was totally uncalled for. I was charged Rs 60,000 despite the erroneous surgical procedure. My father suffered a lot all through. He died in 2012 after enduring the pain for four long years,” grieves Waseem.

A long battle of seven years against the hospital authorities eventually fetched Waseem a compensation of Rs 1 lakh. As per the directions of Consumer disputes Redressal Forum (north) at Tis Hazari issued last year, three defaulting doctors have jointly paid the amount for negligence in March this year. 

Be aware of your rights!

Cases like these have prompted an average Indian to be aware of his rights to fight back when faced with such injustice. In conversation with iamin, Consumer Rights expert S.K Virmani suggests that whenever a patient on a relative finds himself in such situation, the first thing he should do is ‘immediately take a copy of the medical report for records’. “He should then complain to the hospital concerned or the state medical council,”  he suggests.

Virmani , in a brief interview, also talks about the convoluted procedures. Excerpts:

• In Waseem’s case, is this compensation of Rs 1 lakh enough considering the suffering of the patient?

We also have a similar case where the father of the 18-year-old girl in Chennai challenged against the compensation of Rs 5 lakh given to him earlier. Now, S.C. has ordered a compensation of Rs 1.8 crore for them.

If the consumer is not satisfied with the judgment, he has a right to file an appeal in the superior forum or courts within a stipulated time.

• Why does it take so long to resolve such cases?

The complaints of medical negligence being of specialised nature are adjudicated with the support of report from experts, which probably takes more time. 

• Please explain the role of consumer helpline in such cases.

Government of India has set up consumer helplines which are mainly providing guidance and information to the consumers. The consumer helplines also are also forwarding the complaints to the service providers for redressal by which they help in resolving the complaints out of court.

In case the consumer desires to seek any compensation, the only authorities for providing the compensation are forums or courts

• In your opinion, should there be an ombudsman at private and government hospitals to mediate in such cases and make it more convenient for people to fight back?

Yes, the ombudsman like any other sector of services such as Banking, Insurance Electricity could be supportive to address the consumer concerns..