E-Paper
Mohali’s Ivy Hospital, doctor fined ₹50 lakh for medical negligence
Petitioner Anuj Gupta moved the commission on May 31, 2017, three years after his mother Kamlesh Rani died at the hospital
The Punjab State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has fined a Mohali-based private hospital and its doctor ₹50 lakh in an alleged case of medical negligence filed by a Yamunanagar resident.
Petitioner Anuj Gupta moved the commission on May 31, 2017, three years after his mother Kamlesh Rani died at Ivy Hospital in Sector 71, Mohali.
His advocate Kavita Arora said the elderly woman was referred to the hospital from Yamunanagar on March 10.
“After the first operation on March 11, the hospital asked the family to pay ₹ 2 lakh and prepared the discharge formalities on March 18 even as the family insisted that the patient is not well. Later, the hospital agreed to readmit her the same day. The hospital doctors did some re-exploration for a week and raised the second bill for ₹20-25 lakh,” she said. The patient was operated upon again on March 24, but she died on May 6 due to alleged complications in surgery.
The hospital, in its defence, told commission that the complainant failed to show how it was negligent in any manner whatsoever. “The complainant has not produced any documentary evidence to prove that the death of the patient had any connection with the surgeries conducted or as a result of medical negligence on its part,” it was stated. Doctor Vijay Bansal, under whose supervision the surgery was conducted, stated in his reply: “The case was handled diligently. However, due to multiple factors, such as age, recurrent high grade cancer for two years, hypertension and weakness, she developed complications.”
However, commission president Justice Paramjeet Singh Dhaliwal, in the judgment on June 30, 2020, observed: “Human life is most precious... It is true that medical negligence cases do sometimes involve questions of factual complexity... In the present case, complainant has been able to discharge the onus of proving on a balance of probabilities, the medical negligence averred against the hospital and the doctor.”
The commission directed the hospital and Dr Bansal to pay ₹50 lakh “in lump sum, as compensation, for the death of the patient, including the expenses incurred on her treatment... along with interest at the rate of 7% per annum from the date of filing of this complaint till payment, along with ₹50,000 towards the litigation costs.” The hospital has not reacted to the judgment.
