Apollo Hospital, surgeon, anaesthetist held liable for patient death post spinal surgery, slapped Rs 30 Lakh compensation

The Commission was hearing a complaint regarding negligence on the part of the hospital and the two doctors in providing post-operative care to a patient after a spinal surgery in April 2015.

According to a recent PTI report, headed by its president Justice A P Sahi, the apex consumer body noted that the complaint was filed by the patient’s son and wife against Apollo Speciality Hospital, Chennai, Apollo Hospital Enterprise Ltd, consultant spine surgeon Dr Sajan K Hegde and anaesthetist Dr Vasantha Roopan.

Advocate Madhukar Pandey appeared for the complainants.

According to the complaint, the patient underwent spinal surgery on April 20, 2015, at Apollo Specialty Hospital in Chennai but never regained consciousness due to the negligence of the hospital and doctors.

The patient died during the pendency of the complaint in April 2017.

Noting the sequence of events, the commission said the patient failed to regain consciousness after the surgery after being extubated (removal of the tube which helps a patient breathe during surgery).

Also Read: Alleged Medical Negligence Leading To Death: 4 Apollo Doctors Arrested Under IPC 304A

BNN reports that the patient's surgery led to unintended consequences when he failed to regain consciousness, attributed to a delay in medical response post-operation. The NCDRC pinpointed the failure to promptly reintubate the patient as a critical lapse in care. This inaction, over a span of five hours, was deemed "in all probability fatal" by the commission. The accountability was extended to both the anaesthetist, for not acting swiftly and the consulting spine surgeon for not ensuring his advice was followed, marking a clear instance of negligence.

The Commission said the advice for reintubating the patient, which was given at 4 pm on the same day, was not followed promptly.

“It is not understood as to why the anaesthetist did not attempt this and instead opted to wait for the CT scan,” the commission said, adding “There is no evidence of any active role being performed till 9 pm with no plausible explanation as to why the patient was left without intubation.”

In its order dated February 26, the NCDRC said the waiting period of around five hours, despite the advice of reintubation, was “in all probability fatal for the patient”.

The commission noted that there was “a clear negligent conduct” by the anaesthetist and other hospital staff who were attending to the patient.

It said the hospital staff responded only when the patient slipped into complete coma. The commission said;

“The surgeon has also not come forward to offer any plausible explanation as to why his own advice for reintubation was not followed or pursued by him when the patient was unresponsive and remained unconscious.”

The NCDRC held medical negligence and stated;

“The negligence is therefore proved and consequently, there is a failure on the part of the anaesthetist in not having attended to the patient promptly, diligently and skilfully and allowed him to embrace a permanent vegetative state due to such negligence.”

The surgeon was also “vicariously liable” and as the staff did not carry out his advice, the hospital was also liable for the negligence, the NCDRC said.

As quoted by PTI, the commission ordered;

“It would be appropriate to award Rs 10 lakh as damages for deficiency in services on anaesthetist Dr Vasantha Roopan, Rs 5 lakh on Dr K S Hegde for his vicarious role and Rs 15 lakh on the hospital for having allowed this situation to precipitate causing irreparable loss to the patient and consequential loss and suffering to the members of his family.”

It also awarded Rs 50,000 as litigation costs to the complainants.