GUWAHATI: A city resident has approached the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) with an alleged medical negligence complaint against Gauhati Medical College & Hospital (GMCH).
In her complaint, the woman has stated that her husband underwent an operation for kidney stones at the GMCH in September 2007. She has claimed that the surgery was intended to remove the stones from her husband’s kidney, but it was wrongly operated and due to the negligence of the hospital authorities, there was severe bleeding from the kidney after the operation and his condition started deteriorating.
Further, he was again advised to undergo a second operation and due to the spread of infection, he had to be treated and kept in ICU for 28 days. Ultimately, the doctors had to remove one of his kidneys.
The complainant stated that her family had incurred a huge financial loss in the treatment of her husband and when she approached the GMCH authorities, they refused to refund the amount of the treatment.
Authorities at the SCDRC informed that the woman has filed for a total compensation of Rs 15,00,000 which includes Rs 5,00,000 for deficiency in their service and an additional Rs 10,00,000 for the loss of her husband’s kidney.
“In this case, the complainant is a cancer patient herself and the hearing of the case is still ongoing and a final judgment is yet to be delivered,” informed Anuja Bhuyan, ACS and registrar of the SCDRC.
On the other hand, in their defence, the GMCH authorities have mentioned that they provided correct and appropriate treatment to the husband of the complainant and whatever procedures were undertaken were to save the patient’s life.
Similarly, a lot of such cases have been coming to light in the recent times, informed officials of the district as well as the state consumer courts.
In another instance, a case was registered against Pratiksha Hospitals for negligence in which a city-based couple filed a complaint before the state consumer disputes redressal commission.
The complainant claimed that she suffered burn injuries in the form of blisters on both her heels after the successful delivery of her first child in the hospital.
According to the complaint, the woman was shifted to the recovery room after a caesarean-section operation and was under the influence of anesthesia. However, after she regained consciousness she felt a burning sensation in her heels and saw blisters.
On questioning the hospital authorities, the complainants were told that after the surgical delivery process, the duty nurse in the recovery room had placed a heater plate under her heels to keep her warm but later forgot to turn it off, leading to the burn injury.
Further, their request to see a burn specialist was also turned down by the hospital authorities saying that they did not have any burn specialists in the hospital. The patient had to ultimately undergo a surgery after consulting a burn specialist in a separate hospital who claimed that her wounds were second-degree burns which would require an operation.
They have claimed a compensation of Rs 96 lakhs in this case.
The Kamrup (Metro) District Consumer Disputes Redressal forum (DCDRF) officials informed G Plus that they receive several cases related to medical negligence every month.
The cases range from wrong diagnosis of diseases to negligence in medical services. Officials of the DCDRF informed that such cases of medical negligence have become very frequent with at least three to four cases being filed with the consumer forum every month.
President of the DCDRF, Mohammad Sahadat Hussain, informed that such cases of medical negligence have become very frequent with at least three to four cases being filed with the consumer forum every month.
In a recent similar case, a case was registered with Bharalumukh police station a few weeks ago against the Institute of Human Reproduction (IHR), commonly known as Goenka Nursing Home, for alleged medical negligence.
A resident of Athgaon, 31-year-old Nasima Sultana who was pregnant, died a few hours after she was admitted to Goenka Nursing Home for delivery allegedly due to high dose of anesthesia.
