Seven Years Since Woman's Death, Family Wins Case Against Negligent Doctor

Hyderabad: Seven years after losing her mother to cervical cancer, Shilpa Reddy Datla finally won a court battle against a gynaecologist who was held guilty of medical negligence for failing to diagnose the severe condition of her regular patient.

The court also ordered the doctor to pay ₹12 lakh in damages to the family, but Datla said that no amount of money would bring back her mother.

The patient in the case, Durga Devi, was experiencing post-menopausal problems and regularly visited her gynaecologist, at Rainbow Hospital, and got multiple tests done, besides taking different types of medication, but all to no avail.

Datla said that after three years of the problem initially surfacing, they decided to go for a second opinion, only to find out that Devi was suffering from cancer, which was at an advanced stage.

Datla said that her mother, on her death bed, asked her daughter to bring the doctor to justice so that no other patient suffers from negligence. “A promise I made seven years still gives me goosebumps, but I'm glad I was able to fight it with all I have,” Datla told Deccan Chronicle.

“Had my mom been advised to undergo a hysterectomy upon seeing the symptoms of coital bleeding — one of the biggest red flags when it comes to cervical cancer (according to WHO) — taking her age in to consideration, the doctor could have avoided a patient going through all the suffering. Her treatments were too painful for her age and we stood by, watching her suffer,” said Datla.

Three months before the court gave its verdict, the said doctor approached Datla for an out-of-court settlement, but Datla rejected it.

“All I wanted from the doctor was an admission of her grave mistake, an apology and remorse for the same. I found none of it in her, even after I won the case. But more importantly, I wanted to win the case to raise awareness about such negligence and encourage people to raise their voices,” she said.

Datla said that her takeaway from the experience is to go for multiple opinions in medical cases.

“Question, question, question and question more until all your doubts are clarified. You are paying lakhs of rupees and trusting them with your life; don’t ever feel the need to do so blindly and don’t leave things to fate. You pay for a service and get it, it’s as simple as that,” Datla said, calling for stricter laws and punishment.

“The doctor's medical licence was not revoked nor is she serving a punishment, while my family lost a life,” she said.