THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A private clinic in the city has been ordered to pay `4 lakh to a patient whose diabetes went undetected in tests after piles surgery, leading to severe infection and a long hospital stay.
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (DCDRC) directed the Kumarapuram-based clinic to pay the complainant, K Anil Kumar, the amount as compensation for mental agony and `3,000 as costs. Anil Kumar’s blood sugar was tested at the clinic on April 24, 2007, and was found normal at 80 mg/dl. Two days later, he underwent a surgery for piles and fissure.
As the pain did not ease after the surgery, he visited the clinic shortly aafter, on May 8, May 24, June 21 and June 26. Though he was given antibiotics and injections, the clinic did not test his blood sugar level again.
On June 30, the clinic referred him to a private hospital as he had a serious abscess. Tests done at the hospital found he was diabetic. He underwent two procedures under general anaesthesia during the in-patient treatment till July 26.
Anil Kumar’s petition was considered by a DCDRC bench comprising its president P V Jayarajan, members Preetha G Nair and Viju V R. The complainant was represented by advocates S Reghukumar and G S Sanalkumar.
The clinic argued that his sugar level was normal before the surgery, there was no need to test it again. It said diabetes can develop in a person any time and make him infection-prone.
The commission observed that it was clear that he developed diabetes after the surgery. It noted that doctors usually check blood sugar when an infection does not heal after an operation as untreated diabetes would delay healing.
The clinic failed to do this though he was under its care for two months. This negligence led to his long hospital stay, it held. The commission, however, rejected his claim for treatment expenses for lack of documentary proof.