CHENNAI: A nursing home at Chetpet has been directed to pay a man Rs 10 lakh as compensation for its ‘negligence’ that led to his wife delivering a stillborn baby and subsequently dying, allegedly due to lack of proper care.
On August 9, 2010, the complainant, Rajesh Kumar’s wife Thulasi was admitted in Joseph Nursing Home at 6.27 pm and till 12.15 pm Fetal Heart Rate (FHR) was recorded as good. Normal FHR should be between 110-160. According to the in-patient record at 12.15pm that day, FHR was 140-100.
On August 11, 2010, the delivery was recorded as normal, but when the child was born, the entry said it was delivered ‘still’ with lack of oxygen. “Having noted FHR is 100, doctors should have done the procedures of caesarean... Further, they also failed to record the FHR every 15 minutes proving their negligent act,” District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Chennai (North) presided over by President K Jayabalan said on May 23.
The forum directed the nursing home to pay Rs 10 lakh towards compensation in addition to Rs 6,06,875 towards medical expenses.
Kumar claimed no proper test was done by the nursing home to arrest Post Partum Haemorrhage of his wife and she also died. PPH means loss of blood following child birth. In this case after delivery, the mother was allegedly bleeding.
As her condition worsened, she was referred to Apollo FirstMed Hospital. The forum, however, said the hospital received the patient in a critical condition and had not committed any deficiency in service.
The forum highlighted that the nursing home did not state clearly in the written version to court whether the baby died before delivery or after delivery and why they informed the patient’s relatives at 6 pm, nearly 25 minutes after the baby’s death.
The nursing home, on its part, said there was nothing to indicate that the baby was deprived of oxygen, at any time.
“The FHR was always good and it was recorded periodically. There was no inconsistence in the report of the opposite parties and the death summary issued by the 4th opposite party (Apollo FirstMed). The complainant on his own admitted his wife suffered with multiorgan failure, resulting in her death. The complainant has not attributed specific incidents of negligence on the part of the opposite parties,” the nursing home said.
The nursing home contended that the complaint had not been filed within two years and that Kumar was not a competent person to speak about the negligence.
“Though the complaint is filed after two years with necessary condoning delay petition... The complainant’s wife died due to the negligent act of the opposite parties... hence the complainant is the only competent person to speak about the same,” the forum added.