CHENNAI: A city consumer forum has ordered two hospitals to pay Rs 6.5 lakh to a woman, whose normal life was badly affected after a simple procedure during child birth went awry.
V Visalakshi of Kolathur, was admitted in Raghavi hospital, Mogappair, on August 8, 2008 with labour pains. She delivered a healthy baby boy an hour later.
In her complaint, she said the doctors told her husband that she had a normal delivery with no complications. They found out only later that she had an ‘episiotomy’.
Episiotomy is the procedure where a small cut is made in the vaginal opening as a preventive measure against soft-tissue trauma. This aids childbirth and prevents any other severe vaginal tears that can be difficult to repair.
When the new mother complained of pain, doctors said it was n ormal and prescribed five days of medicine. However, two days later, Visalakshi had pus from the suture area and motion was coming out of the suture area instead of anus. She was immediately rushed to nearby SKS hospital at Anna Nagar, where she was told there was a ‘complete perineal tear and a perineal wound with exterior anal splinter gaping’. Here, the complainant was advised to do a ‘re-suturing’ of the area and given antibiotics again.
Less than a month later, the woman had intense pain and motion started to leak through her sutured wound again. When she was rushed to CSM nursing home, West Mambalam, a CT scan revealed that a thin fistulous tract extending from the anal canal to the vagina had been formed and it was diagnosed as recto vaginal fistula.
The doctors advised her another surgery in three months. It did not stop there. She had to undergo two more surgeries in 2010, and is yet to fully recover. In her petition, Visalakshi said her husband, a milk vendor, had to obtain loan for her treatment. He had not been able to do milk vending as he had to take care of the mother and the baby. Because of the complications, she had been unable to take care of her baby and will also never be able to give birth again.
In its defence, Raghavi Hospital said an episiotomy was a regular procedure done in some specific circumstances. “The doctors’ contribution is either relatively or completely blameless”.
SKS hospital said it had done the necessary procedure and claimed innocence because the patient “did not return to them for a follow-up”.
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Chennai (North), found that the two hospitals had been deficient in their service for failing to provide immediate aid to their patient.