Madras High Court directs Rs 5 lakh Compensation on death due to non-availability of ambulance

The High Court bench comprising of Justice Justice N. Anand Venkatesh observed that the non-availability of the ambulance caused delay in shifting the patient from the PHC to a better medical facility and it ultimately resulted in the loss of 'golden hour', the time between life and death.

In the judgment dated 29.06.2021, the single-judge bench of the High Court held that "even though this Court does not find any negligence on the part of the fourth respondent insofar as the treatment that was given to the petitioner's wife, there was definitely a delay in shifting the petitioner's wife from the Primary Health Centre to the Medical College, Asaripallam. Since the petitioner's wife was suffering from heavy bleeding, this delay had ultimately proved to be fatal resulting in her death."

After perusing the facts and materials related to the case, the HC bench opined that the petitioner fulfils the criteria of Sub Clause II of Clause 4(G) of the G.O.Ms.No.395, dated 04.09.2018, which was brought into force by the Government by creating a Corpus fund. "Hence, the petitioner is entitled to be paid compensation under this Government Order to the tune of Rs.5,00,000/- (Rupees Five Lakhs Only)," ruled the bench further directing the Government to make the payment within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order.

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The case concerned the petitioner's deceased wife who was taken to the Primary Health Centre back in 2012 for the delivery of her baby. The petitioner alleged that after delivery, there was excessive bleeding suffered by his wife.

Even though the situation was critical, the treating doctor in spite of attending the wife of the petitioner and administering her with necessary drugs, found that the victim required a blood transfusion and hence, recommended for shifting the patient to Medical College, Asaripallam, alleged the petitioner.

As there was no ambulance available at the PHC, the Staff nurse had called 108 ambulance which had arrived after 30 minutes and finally when the patient had reached the Medical College, she was declared as dead due to 'postpartum haemorrhage'.

The petitioner alleged that he lost his wife only due to the delay caused due to the non-availability of the ambulance and filed the petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, seeking a compensation of Rs 25 lakhs for the loss.

Both the District medical officer and the treating doctor had denied any kind of negligence in treatment. The District medical officer had also pointed out that Postpartum Haemorrhage was a common cause for maternal death after the delivery and in India it accounts for almost 38% of maternal death.

The treating doctor had further submitted that after observing the patient was bleeding more than normal, he had immediately administered all the necessary drugs and offered the patient the necessary first aid as well. However, in order to avoid any unfortunate incident, he had recommended shifting the patient to a better medical facility and the process was taken care of immediately as well. He further submitted that the patient was stable at the time of shifting the treating doctor had denied any negligence on his part.

During the hearing, the Court on 29.04.2021 had taken note of the submission made by the counsel for the petitioner regarding the Government Order dated 04.09.2018. In fact, the counsel for the petitioner pointed out that earlier in a different case, the High Court in the order dated 01.02.2021, had granted a compensation of Rs 5 lakh on the basis of this Government order.

Medical Dialogues had also reported about that case where the Madras High Court had held that in case of a government hospital, even despite no medical negligence, if there is an injury, then the government should pay compensation.

Although in that case, the Court had not found any medical negligence on the part of the doctors and anaesthetist of Government Head Hospital, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court had stated that since the 8-year-old patient had gone to the Government hospital for treatment, the Government should pay Rs. 5 lakh as "ex-gratia" to the deceased girl's family belonging to a notified scheduled caste community from the corpus fund of the Government.

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Taking note of this submission on the part of the counsel for the petitioner, the High Court bench had observed on 29.04.2021, "If the facts of the present case is also confined to the Government Order, there is no requirement for this Court to go into the issue of negligence. It will be possible to give necessary directions based on the Government Order and the earlier order passed by this Court."

However, the counsel for the Government on the last date of hearing had submitted that the petitioner couldn't be given compensation as per G.O.Ms.No.395, Health and Family Welfare (H1) Department, dated 04.09.2018, since the death of the petitioner's wife was not caused due to negligence.

After perusing the facts and materials related to the case carefully, the single-judge bench of Madras High Court noted that in this unfortunate case the petitioner had lost his life due to excessive bleeding after childbirth. Agreeing with the submission made by the District Medical officer, the Court stated that the condition suffered by the petitioner's wife (postpartum haemorrhage) was not uncommon but unfortunate.

Considering the submission made by the treating doctor the Court also agreed that the doctor had administered necessary drugs as a first aid to the petitioner's wife and attempts were made to bring the situation under control. However, as the bleeding didn't stop the doctor advised to shift the patient to a better facility.

"This is where the entire problem started. There was no ambulance available at the Primary Health Centre and the Staff Nurse belonging to the Primary Health Centre was desperately attempting to get an ambulance by calling 108 and the ambulance reached the Primary Health Centre only around 05.45 a.m. In this process nearly 30 minutes of precious time was lost," observed the Court.

"It is clear from the above that there was a delay in shifting the deceased from the Primary Health Centre to the Medical College, Asaripallam. When it comes to saving life, every second counts and delay by even few minutes can cause the death of a person. Therefore, when it comes to medical emergency, delay can never be condoned like how leniently we condone in Courts," the Court further noted.

Referring to a Supreme Court judgment in the case of P.B.Khet Mazdoor Samity Vs. State of West Bengal, the High Court bench mentioned that Primary Health Centres are expected to possess an ambulance to meet an emergency.

In this context, the Court further opined,

"Every Primary Health Centre is supposed to have an ambulance readily available to shift patients in case of emergency. It is an admitted case that the Primary Health Centre was regularly dealing with delivery cases and they have to expect an emergency at any time and they cannot afford to run a Centre without ambulance."

Finally, the Court observed,

"In view of the above, even though this Court does not find any negligence on the part of the fourth respondent insofar as the treatment that was given to the petitioner's wife, there was definitely a delay in shifting the petitioner's wife from the Primary Health Centre to the Medical College, Asaripallam. Since the petitioner's wife was suffering from heavy bleeding, this delay had ultimately proved to be fatal resulting in her death. In Medical Parlance, it is referred to as golden hour."

Thus the Court directed the Government to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the petitioner from the Corpus fund noting that the case of the petitioner will fall within the requirements of Sub Clause II of Clause 4(G).

"Hence, the petitioner is entitled to be paid compensation under this Government Order to the tune of Rs.5,00,000/- (Rupees Five Lakhs Only)," ruled the Court directing the State to make the payment within eight weeks.

To view the original court order, click on the link below.