E-Paper
Docs asked to pay Rs 2.5 lakh as compensation
IN WHAT could be a path breaking judgment, the District Consumer Forum on Wednesday asked two city doctors to pay Rs 2.5 lakh as compensation to a patient they had negligently diagnosed as HIV positive and treated him accordingly.
IN WHAT could be a path breaking judgment, the District Consumer Forum on Wednesday asked two city doctors to pay Rs 2.5 lakh as compensation to a patient they had negligently diagnosed as HIV positive and treated him accordingly.
While the owner of Jolly Nursing Home, Naseemabad, Dr Jogendra Singh has been asked to pay Rs 1.5 lakh, Dr Arun Kumar Gupta of Gyan Pathology, Sarvodya Nagar will pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation.
Sources said Ajai Kumar Sharma was seriously injured when he fell from the staircase on June 5, 2002. He was admitted to Jolly Nursing Home and his family paid Rs 10,000 to Dr Singh for various investigations like X-ray, blood test etc at Gyan Pathology. However, the blood test report sent by the pathology lab to Dr Singh on June 8, 2002 stated him a HIV positive. Dr Singh even started treating him as a HIV patient and his family deposited another Rs 60,000 for medicine and doctors fees.
Sharma stayed at the nursing home till June 9, 2002 and no treatment was given to his injuries, which he received during a fall. Besides, the patient’s family also paid Rs 77,000 against treatment and nursing home charges.
The petitioner also alleged that though he made a request for re-examination of his blood to crosscheck whether he had HIV, no attention was paid to his plea by Dr Jogendra Singh.
However, he conducted re-examination of his blood at another pathology lab on June 12, 2002 and the report showed negative. Later, the patient also donated his blood at a medical college on July 27, 2002 and during the pre-examination, his blood report was found HIV negative.
During all this process, the patient’s family spent a whopping Rs 1.6 lakh.
However, during the hearing, Dr Singh stated that he had referred the case to one dentist Dr Dheeraj Mehra and the patient was not refereed for HIV test.
Besides, Dr Singh said that he had refunded Rs 6,130 to the patient’s family at the time of discharge on June 9, 2002 and the allegation levelled against him was false.
Dr Arun Kumar Gupta of Gyan Pathology accepted that the patient was refereed to him for blood test and the examination established him as a HIV positive.
However, in the report it was also mentioned that the screening test and confirmation could be made after another test. However, in their defence, the doctors said that if any one had been administered Hepatitis A & B vaccination then the fact of the report might get disturbed.
After going through all the facts and evidences presented by both the parties, the Forum members— A H Ansari, Shailendra Nath and Snehlata passed the judgment in favour of the complainant and asked the guilty doctors to pay the compensation within 30 days and in case of any delay 10 per cent simple interest would charged.
