Chennai: Hospital fined Rs 1.29 Lakhs over botched eye surgery

Only after reassurance by the doctor that her vision will be restored after few hours did she (Kamatchi) pin her hope back. However, there was no recovery even after few hours. So, she went back to the hospital on September 12, 2004, only to be admitted again to the hospital and later referred to Shankar Nethralaya after two days.

However, there was no respite for her. Therefore concluding, that the "irrelevant surgery" had led to permanent loss in vision, she moved the district consumer disputes redressal forum, Tiruvallur seeking compensation for medical negligence.

As reported by TOI, denying the arguments, the doctor said Kamatchi was advised of the procedure, risks and post-operative complications of the surgery.. The surgery and the post-operative period were without any complications. After being discharged, she was advised to regularly apply the prescribed eye drops and report for a follow up after three days. Kamatchi, however, reported for follow up, only with an inordinate delay of 16 hours with complaint of pain and loss of vision. She also admitted to not applying the eye drops regularly. After being admitted, she was provided the "best treatment" for showing signs of a post-operative complication. As her condition did not improve, Kamatchi was referred to Sankara Nethralaya.

President of the forum, S Pandian said the hospital had admitted Kamatchi and referred her to Sankara Nethralaya after two days. This, created suspicion over the nature of treatment provided by the hospital. "It goes without saying that even an hour of delay endangers human life," said the forum adding, despite Kamatchi losing her vision, she was referred to another hospital after an inordinate delay of two days.