Chennai: Hospital, insurance company asked to pay Rs 8.38 lakh for negligence
Chennai: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Chennai (North) has directed a private hospital and insurance firm to pay ?8.38 lakh to an advocate for committing negligence in conducting orthopaedic surgery 16 years ago.
The petitioner advocate, David Tyagaraj, of Choolaimedu, submitted that he met with a road accident near Puducherry on January 5, 2000. He suffered fractures on the right thigh and his left hip got dislocated. He was admitted to the Government Hospital, Pondicherry.
The next day he came to Chennai and got himself admitted to Bharathi Rajaa Hospital & Research Centre. On January 9, 2001, open reduction surgery was conducted on the right femur and plate and screws were fixed.
However, he faced persistent pain on the left hip. A CT scan, taken outside, revealed that there was necrosis, a form of cell injury which results in the premature death of cells in living tissue by autolysis, on the head of the femur and fracture of the acetabulum cavity.
He said, “If the hospital had taken care immediately, the necrosis would not have been formed”. Subsequently, on advice from a surgeon, hip replacement surgery was performed in another private hospital on January 17, 2000.
Subsequently, a surgical correction operation was performed and the defective plate removed on June 28, 2000. He alleged that surgeons in Bharathi Rajaa hospital were responsible for aggravating his injuries by committing medical negligence in the surgery and fixing inferior quality plate.
In the petition, he sought a compensation of Rs 17.21 lakh from the hospital, surgeons and the manager, the Oriental Insurance Co., Ltd, for committing gross medical negligence and for causing mental agony.
In its reply, the hospital and surgeons denied allegations. After completion of the surgery, check x -rays were taken which showed that the fracture was in good alignment after fixation. The hip replacement surgery not advised as a first step itself and in the event of failure to respond to the normal approach then patient can go for other method of treatment.
He failed to follow the advice asking him not to walk or bear weight on the right thigh, especially being of obese nature and hence, he required further surgery. After discharge, he never returned to hospital for follow up. Hence, they sought to dismiss the petition.
Holding the hospital responsible for negligence in the treatment, the bench comprising its president, K. Jayabalan and member T. Kalaiyarasi, directed the hospital and insurance firm to pay ?8.38 lakh to him including cost of Rs 20,000.
