For doctors' negligence leading to the death of a foetus in a 28-year-old woman's womb, the Chandigarh district consumer forum has directed the UT director of health and family welfare and the Government Block Civil Hospital in Sector 22 to jointly pay `2 lakh as compensation.
The doctors at the Sector-22 hospital had failed to act even after Vibha Aggarwal, resident of Sector 21, had told them that the foetus wasn't growing properly after one-month in December 2011. Then in April 2012 she visited the hospital's gynae department as her body had swelled; but the doctors again said the pregnancy was normal. No treatment was given despite her repeated visits, the complaint said.
She approached Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Sector 32 in June 2012 for a check-up where the gynaecologist conducted an ultrasound scan and told he that she was bearing a crimpled foetus, and that it had happened due to negligence of the doctors earlier. A month later, her condition worsened so she approached a private clinic and got the dead male foetus removed.
"It appears that the doctors on duty turned a deaf ear to the complaint of Vibha that she was having stomach pain and there was a little growth of foetus in the uterus. Had the doctors on duty got the ultrasound examination of the foetus
conducted in June 2012, the baby in the uterus of the complainant might have been saved," the forum held on September 6. "We find that this is purely a case of medical negligence."
"It appears that the doctors on duty turned a deaf ear to the complaint of Vibha that she was having stomach pain and there was a little growth of foetus in the uterus. Had the doctors on duty got the ultrasound examination of the foetus
conducted in June 2012, the baby in the uterus of the complainant might have been saved," the forum held on September 6. "We find that this is purely a case of medical negligence."
Besides the compensation, the director and the Sector-22 civil hospital have to pay `29,900 as the cost of removal of dead feotus at a private hospital and `11,000 as cost of litigation to Vibha.
The director and the civil hospital had denied that the doctor did not care, and said the tests showed there was no growth-retardation. But the argument did not hold.