Patient's family has right to medical records: Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum 3 ordered Global Hospitals to pay compensation of Rs 5 lakh for causing mental agony and for deficiency of service to the family of a patient who died after liver transplantation surgery.
Though the forum did not find medical negligence on the part of the hospital and doctors, it found deficiency in service in providing medical records and documents to the patient’s family.
The complaint was filed by M. Praveen Kumar Reddy, a senior software engineer from Huda Colony in Chandanagar, in May 2014. The complaint named chairman and MD of the hospital Dr Ravindranath, consultant liver transplant surgeon Dr Mohammed Rela, consultant hepatologist Dr Dharmesh Kapoor and medical director Vijay Mohan Reddy.
Mr Praveen Kumar Reddy told the forum that his father M. Chenchi Reddy was suffering from a liver disorder. Mr Praveen Reddy’s sister agreed to be the donor for the transplant.
The hospital quoted a package price of Rs 24.5 lakh, including 21 days stay at the hospital, and the money was paid on October 9, 2013, a day before the surgery.
Mr Praveen Kumar Reddy told the forum that the hospital told him the transplant was successful. On October 21, Chenchi Reddy died. Global Hospitals returned Rs 1.63 lakh in February 2014 without furnishing any details or break-up.
Mr Praveen Kumar Reddy sought refund of Rs 13.36 lakh along with interest as his father died three days after the surgery and did not stay in the hospital for all 21 days; the costs in other hospitals was between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 9 lakh, he contended.
The hospital told the forum that Chenchi Reddy was admitted in a critical condition and the doctors had explained the risks and consequences. The patient died despite the care taken, the hospital said.
It said Dr Rela was flown in from London along with his team to perform the surgery, for which the huge expenditure was incurred. Dr Dharmesh Kapoor said that he had conducted 400 liver transplants.
On Tuesday, the forum ruled that alleging negligence without cogent evidence and expert evidence is not acceptable. “An unfortunate outcome of a surgery cannot be held to be due to medical negligence and a doctor who has performed the surgery with due care and caution cannot be held liable just because the outcome was different from what was expected,” the forum said.
However, the patient and his attendants had the right to medical records and the hospital had a duty to provide them as per the Medical Council Act.
“The act of failing to provide the medical records to the complainant even after he requested for the same amounts to deficiency of service and the complainant is entitled to a reasonable compensation for the same,” the forum said.
The forum also said the conduct of the hospital was “high-handed and unsympathetic, smacking of a commercial proposition in the treatment. Such an act clearly constitutes a deficiency of service.”
The forum did not agree with Mr Praveen Kumar Reddy on the cost of the package, and said there would be no refund.
The forum ordered the hospital officials and doctors to “jointly and severally” contribute to Rs 5 lakh as compensation and Rs 3,000 towards costs.
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