NEW DELHI: “The last memory of my father that I have is of him lying on a bed in pain and calling me out to sit beside him,” says Komal Jaswani, whose father Mahesh Jaswani succumbed to cancer 12 years ago, when she was just six years old. Her younger brother has no memory of his father as he was only four at that time.
Mahesh passed away at the age of 44 in June 2006 due to wrong diagnosis and treatment by Dr SM Tuli at the Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health and Neurology (VIMHANS).
The Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, in a judgment last month, came down heavily on VIMHANS and Tuli, finding them guilty of negligence on their part while treating the patient.
The hospital was fined `20 lakh out of which it was asked to pay `5 lakh to the wife of the deceased. In addition to this, Dr Tuli was asked to pay a fine of `2 lakh to the family.
But that’s little consolation for the Jaswani family which lives in Lajpat Nagar. “Had my husband’s cancer been diagnosed correctly at an early stage, he would have been sitting here with us. My children were deprived of the love and care of their father in their growing years,” said a heartbroken Rajni, wife of the deceased and the main complainant in the case. “The treatment for cancer started very late and the case became complicated due to the wrong treatment given by VIMHANS and S.M Tuli. They killed my husband.”
According to the judgment, Mahesh had in September 2005 complaint of pain in the mid-back region. He consulted a local clinic where he was advised to get an MRI done of the spine. He visited VIMHANS with the MRI report, where Dr Tuli diagnosed him with tuberculosis in L2-L3, along with diabetes. Within two days, he was admitted to the hospital and operated upon.
While the treatment for TB continued, Mahesh’s condition started deteriorating after being discharge from VIMHANS. He soon became bed-ridden and the pain had also increased. Whenever Jaswani visited Tuli, he was assured that it was normal in case of TB.
When the family again visited VIMHANS in December, Dr Tuli was not available and in his place, Dr Varun Kapoor looked at the patient’s reports. According to the family, he was “shocked” to see that Mahesh was actually suffering from cancer.
The Jaswanis claim Mahesh’s cancer was at the initial stage when they first visited Dr Tuli and it got aggravated because of the wrong treatment.
Dr Tuli and VIMHANS claimed, in defence, the patient was advised operation for TB on the basis of MRI report. The doctor claimed that patients’ attendants got his biopsy done from an outside diagnostic centre but did not show him the report and that’s why, in the absence of biopsy report, anti-tuberculosis drugs were continued.
But the consumer court rejected his argument and said having advised biopsy, the onus was on him to ask for all the reports.
After the cancer was detected, Mahesh was taken to AIIM. ‘There, the doctors told us that had the tumor not been touched, it would have been cured by radiotherapy/chemotherapy. The patient would have survived and lived a normal life for the next 30-40 years,” said Rajni. “It took us more than a decade to win the case. VIMHANS ruined our lives. The (compensation) money will not bring Mahesh back, but I hope no one else goes through this.”