HYDERABAD: In a major case of negligence by hospital authorities, a man was wrongly diagnosed of stomach infection before being found to suffer from blood cancer. With the diagnosis gone haywire, the patient ended up losing his life but his widow continued to fight a seven-year battle to sue the hospital. The forum is reported to have directed the concerned hospital -- BBR super speciality hospital -- to pay Rs 7.4 lakh as compensation for negligence.
M Ravinder, the victim, was admitted to the BBR hospital in Ferozguda on May 16, 2012 after he reported of stomach ache and fever. The doctors immediately advised him to undergo laporatomy -- a surgical operation to cut open the stomach only for diagnosis -- and he was soon discharged. Doctors told him he would be fine once the necessary procedures were done.
However, within a few days, Ravinder suffered with nausea, jammed bowel movement and began vomiting. On his next visit to the hospital on July 16, 32012, the doctors found an ulcer in his stomach - severe enough to declare he would not survive it.
Ravinder’s wife, M Lavanya, then had him shifted to a different hospital. However, the new report said that Ravinder was suffering from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma -- a type of blood cancer. With proper treatment, he could have survived a little bit longer but it was too late by the time the diagnosis was done.
On August 25, 2018, Ravinder succumber to the ailment and was survived by his wife and their two sons.
In her plaint to the Ranga Reddy consumer forum, Lavanya alleged that Ravinder died due to the hospital staff’s negligent and delayed diagnosis.