CMC ordered to pay ₹15 lakh for botched caesarean operation

NELLORE: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed Christian Medical College (CMC) Hospital in Vellore to pay ₹15 lakh in compensation for leaving a 18x17 cm cotton mop in a patient’s stomach after performing a caesarean operation on her in November 2015.

According to information available with the commission, the victim Rasheela Bhanu Shaik, 25, of AS Peta town in Nellore district, had undergone the caesarean on November 27, 2015, at CMC in Vellore of Tamil Nadu. After the surgery, she developed a stomach-ache and complained to CMC. But she found no improvement. Subsequently, she approached several other hospitals, but did not find any relief.

Finally, she reached KIMS Hospital at Nellore, where doctors diagnosed her with gossypiboma-acute intestinal obstruction (small bowel obstruction) that had been causing problems for her. The hospital operated on her in 2017 and removed the surgical mop, which had been the cause for Rasheela Bhanu’s ordeals.

Maintaining that negligence of medical officers at Christian Medical College had led to her problems, Rasheela Bhanu sent a legal notice to CMC demanding a compensation of ₹20 lakh as compensation for her ordeal and towards surgery for removal of the surgical mop.

CMC authorities denied all the allegations mentioned in her notice. They also submitted that the consumer forum has no jurisdiction to entertain the complaint, as the hospital is in Tamil Nadu. They also stated that the woman had not returned for removal of her sutures nor her six-week postnatal check-up. Giving these reasons in its written reply, CMC sought dismissal of the complaint.

However, the consumer forum president Ginka Reddy Sekhar, after hearing arguments of both sides and examining the complaint from all angles, ordered CMC to pay ₹15 lakh to Rasheela Bhanu towards compensation and damages and ₹5,000 towards expenses.

According to the consumer commission, CMC will have to comply with the order within 45 days from the date of receipt of the order, failing which it will have to pay interest at 9 percent per annum.