Hyderabad: The Khammam District Consumer Forum has awarded compensation of Rs 1 lakh to a woman who alleged medical negligence in a case of in-vitro fertilisation that led to her developing a heterotrophic pregnancy (where one foetus develops in the fallopian tube and another in the uterus). The ruling was given after nine years.
The complaint was filed by V. Nagamani, wife of Uma Venkata Rao, a resident of Khammam town, against Dr Muvva Lakshmi Rajeshwari of the Rohit Test Tube Baby Centre in the town.
The complainant alleged that she was admitted to the test tube baby centre on September 4, 2007 for IVF treatment. The doctors told her that she had no capacity to release proper eggs and if she can obtain eggs from a donor, she would have a chance to become pregnant.
The procedure was accordingly done and in time, her pregnancy was confirmed. But one day, she experienced giddiness and was shifted to Rohit Test Tube Centre and after being advised by doctors there, she was shifted to Mamata General Hospital who diagnosed an ectopic pregnancy (where the embryo attaches outside the uterus). Due to the rupture of the fallopian tube, Ms Nagamani began bleeding. After a week the foetus in the uterus was also dead.
The complainant had spent Rs 1.7 lakh on IVF treatment and Rs 25,000 for bills at Mamata Hospital and Rs 30,000 over transportation and other charges. Rohit Test Tube Centre argued before the Forum that the scan report did not reveal that the complainant had a heterotrophic pregnancy, which is very rare, and they were not to blame.
But the Forum said Dr Rajeswari of Rohit Test Tube Centre did not clarify why she did not provide treatment in her hospital, particularly in an emergency. Any failure to render medical help is against ethics of a medical practitioner. The Forum also quoted medical journals as saying that most heterotrophic pregnancies occur as a result of IVF.
Expert speaks
Heterotrophic pregnancy is definitely a rare development. Women with pelvic inflammatory disease also develop it at times. This is one of the associated complications of IVF. When embryo develops in the fallopian tube, it is dangerous to the health of the woman and leads to emergency situation. It is true that it is difficult to diagnose. I don’t think doctors of the test tube centre were negligent in this aspect— Dr B Uma Devi, fertility specialist, and retired professor from Gandhi Hospital
