The district consumer dispute redressal commission has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on a citybased private hospital and two of its doctors for medical negligence, which led to the death of a 72-year-old woman in 2022.

The patient visited the hospital with stomach pain. She then underwent a surgery for removal of stones in her gall bladder.

Later, it was found that the patient had gall bladder cancer too, but she was treated only for the stones, which led to her death.

Rashmi Sisodia, a resident of Sector 71 and daughter of the patient Saroj Kumari, approached the consumer forum against Dr Vidur Jyoti, Dr Ayush Dhingra and Max Hospital in July 2023 after filing a series of complaints with police and Haryana medical board.

Kumari visited Max Hospital in July 2021 with complaints of frequent stomach ache, and it was found that she had multiple stones in the gall bladder. After consultations with Jyoti, she was admitted on July 7 for an endoscopy and laparoscopic surgery of the liver for removal of the stone. The surgery was conducted by Dhingra, and she was discharged.

In a post-surgery consultation in August, Jyoti observed that Kumari’s parameters had improved and “no medicine was needed.”

“During this period the patient was never told by Jyoti that a report of a histopathology exam, which was conducted before surgery, was also to be collected from the hospital, which clearly showed that she was suffering from cancer,” her daughter said.

Due to severe pain, Kumari was admitted to AIIMS in March 2022. An ultrasound was conducted and the doctor enquired about the report of the histopathology exam carried out earlier. Sisodia then collected the report from the hospital, which revealed that the cancer had progressed to an advanced stage. After this discovery, the mother-daughter duo reached Max Hospital and tried to confront the doctors. The complainant alleged the doctors told her that “there was no point in treating her mother anymore as she was bound to die,” coupled with the observation that “treating her would be a waste of money”.

Kumari succumbed to gall bladder cancer in June 2022.
“There was every possibility that if she had been diagnosed with cancer in time, she would have been alive, as proper treatment in that regard would have been given to her on time,” Sisodia said.

Sanjeev Jindal, president of the forum, in an order dated December 18 (the order was released to the public on Thursday) observed, “The hospital and doctors can’t escape liability in respect of providing severely deficient services, coupled with medical negligence, which ultimately resulted in the patient’s death.” It also directed the hospital to pay Rs 55,000 to the complainant as litigation charges along with Rs 2 lakh spent on Kumari’s treatment.

"The ex-parte order dated Dec 18, 2023 was brought to our attention earlier today. We are going through the same and are seeking legal advice on the matter. We will decide our future course of action in a few days, basis the advice we receive from our legal team." said company spokesperson.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/consumer-panel-fines-hosp-2-docs-10l-as-patient-dies/articleshow/106587255.cms