MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the State government to pay an interim compensation of Rs 75,000 to the parents of an infant girl whose left-hand thumb was cut off accidentally by a staff nurse at Government Raja Mirasudhar Hospital in Thanjavur.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh gave the direction on a petition filed by the child’s father M Ganesan. The judge observed, “Parents of a child being made to helplessly watch the severed thumb of their child lying on the floor, and the child writhing in pain is such a horrifying experience which could have caused so much mental agony to them.”
In cases of this nature, the court has to apply strict liability theory (Rylands v Fletcher case), he opined. “The incident taken as such prima facie shows that there is negligence. Hence some interim compensation has to be paid by the government to the child’s parents,” he expressed and gave the above direction.
Since the petitioner’s counsel submitted that the operation conducted to suture the severed thumb back to the baby’s hand ended in failure, Justice Venkatesh directed the government to take steps to shift the baby to a multi-specialty hospital.
As the government counsel submitted that an inquiry is being conducted, and that government is also considering to pay compensation, the judge sought a counter affidavit and adjourned case to July 26.