NEW DELHI: Defending against the recent order by the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC), which ordered it to pay compensation for medical negligence while treating a patient who underwent splenectomy—a surgical procedure to remove your spleen—Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has termed the order “surprising”.
The hospital has claimed that “no negligence was found on its part or the part of its doctors” and added that the order is being studied in detail for further course of action. It also mentioned an order by the Delhi Medical Council which absolved the hospital of any negligence in the case.
The consumer forum had recently directed five doctors of the hospital to pay Rs 7.20 lakh to a deceased patient’s husband, holding that they used the woman as “an experimental site” without adhering to the standard line of treatment.
The commission, which ordered payment of Rs 5.10 lakh as damages for the agony suffered by the deceased, Rs 1.20 lakh for the mental distress caused to her husband, besides Rs 90,000 as litigation costs, said they made inaccurate diagnosis and failed to provide the patient proper post-operative care. The patient had approached the hospital for the removal of her spleen in 2015 and succumbed to her ailment in the same year.