Doctor Posing as Gynecologist fined Rs 11 lakhs

Jaipur: A medical practitioner and a private hospital in Jaipur has been slapped a total of Rs 11 lakhs compensation on account of medical negligence that led to the death of a newborn during child birth.

The compensation has been awarded by the Jaipur district consumer dispute redressal forum and the total compensation consists of Rs 8 lakhs for physical trauma and Rs 3 lakhs for mental strain on the complainant ( mother). Besides this another Rs 21,000 has to be paid by the hospital towards the legal expenses borne by the petitioner.

The case is that of a pregnant woman who had been under the care of Dr Vijay Suren, Sevayatan Maternity and General Hospital, Ajmer Road, Jaipur, during the course of her pregnancy. On January 2007 she complained of going into labour, and at the advice of Dr Suren was admitted to the hospital at late night 11.30. The doctor examined her advising her tests. The patient was later informed that all her tests were normal. Further informing her that her delivery will be normal, Dr Suren left for Ajmer. It was alleged by the patient the doctor left her with an inexperienced house surgeon who later performed the delivery.

The next day the delivery took place at the hand of the resident doctor and the patient and the relatives were informed that she had delivered a still born due to the 'cord around its neck'. Alleging Negligence, the patient filed a complaint with the commission.

With the case being forwarded to experts of the gynecology department of the SMS Medical College for expert opinion, the committee held the following

• Due care for complications during childbirth were not taken, treating the case as just a normal pregnancy.


• No fetal monitor was present at the hospital and hence fetal monitoring was not done


• Since the sonography machine of the hospital had been seized ( reasons not mentioned), no sonography was performed at the hospital. Neither was the patient sent outside for the test, which was a possibility.The committee further held
  

  The prime facie fault lies with concerned hospital since a good USG by a specialist could have accurately diagnosed ''Cord around neck''There was lack of electronic foetal monitoring facility in the said hospital which could have tackled the catastrophy .it is solely with in the purview of hospital management.

  
  


• As per the expert Committee ( as well as Medical Council of Rajasthan Report),  Dr Vijay Suren has no qualifications to his credit for which he could have claimed himself to be a gynecologist. Despite lack of qualifications, he called himself a gynecologist and had it incorporated in his prescription as well as the boards of the medical facility.

Holding the views of the expert committee, as well as the Medical Council of Rajasthan that reiterated the above conclusions, the commission held the doctor and the hospital guilty of negligence asking them to the pay the compensation to the petitioner.

It is further reported that separate cases with the Medical Council of India as well as under IPC 420 are being pursued against the doctor for posing himself as a gynecologist without qualifications for the same.

You can read the full judgement by clicking on the following link