MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed a trial court in Kanniyakumari to complete the trial in a case pertaining to the death of a woman due to medical negligence in 2012 within six months. The trial court was instructed to conduct the proceedings on a day-to-day basis, and to remand the accused if they try to delay the trial.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh gave the directions while dismissing a batch of petitions filed by six accused in the case, seeking to quash the criminal proceedings pending against them.
The facts of the case, as mentioned in the judgment, were that the deceased, G Rukmani, was admitted to the Nagercoil Government Medical College Hospital on March 18, 2011, for tubectomy. However, she was inadvertently administered nitrous oxide instead of oxygen, following which she slipped into a coma. Despite undergoing treatment in various hospitals, Rukmani died on May 4, 2012.
Alleging medical negligence, Rukmani’s husband Ganesan had moved a petition seeking compensation in 2013. Confirming the negligence and holding the state liable for it, the high court had allowed the petition in 2016 by directing the government to pay Rs 28.37 lakh.
While the criminal case is pending for trial, six of the 12 accused — including the gas suppliers and manufacturers who filled the wrong gas in the cylinder, and the anaesthetist who administered it — moved the petition seeking to quash the case against them.
Justice Venkatesh observed that there was gross negligence on the part of the hospital as well as the gas suppliers, but they were playing the blame game. The hospital was engaging the services of gas suppliers who did not have a valid licence, making them both liable.
Pointing out that the deceased had suffered for nearly 411 days and her death had, no doubt, been caused due to gross negligence, the judge opined that only the trial court can ascertain on whose negligence the incident happened.