Bengaluru Court orders FIR against Sparsh Hospital officials over alleged patient record tampering

Bengaluru: A Bengaluru court has directed Bellandur police to register an FIR against Sparsh Hospital officials after allegations that a patient's electronic medical record (EMR) was altered after an anaesthesiologist documented a clinical finding.

The order follows a complaint filed by the doctor, who alleged that his observation of motor weakness in the patient's right lower limb was removed from the medical record after he refused to delete the entry himself.

The incident dates back to August 2025, when the doctor was treating a patient receiving epidural analgesia. During his assessment, he noted weakness in the patient's right leg and recommended stopping the epidural infusion temporarily as a precaution.

According to the complaint, a senior consultant in the hospital's anaesthesiology department later asked him over WhatsApp to remove the observation from the patient's records. After he declined, an addendum was allegedly added to the EMR using administrative access.

The complaint also raised concerns over another entry in the patient's records. A Doctors' Daily Progress Note dated August 30 recorded a review at 3.30 pm, but the entry was allegedly authorised at 7.31 pm. The doctor further alleged that the note did not contain the medical registration number of the person who had supposedly conducted the review.

The anaesthesiologist subsequently alleged that he faced action after questioning the changes to the medical record. He claimed that his salary was withheld and that his services were terminated in October 2025, followed by a relieving order in January 2026. He also alleged that the hospital's management asked him to submit a scripted apology, which he refused.

The doctor had earlier approached the Karnataka Medical Council and the police over the matter. After alleging that his complaints did not lead to action, he approached the magistrate's court.

The complaint alleged offences including forgery, criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal intimidation, along with provisions of the Information Technology Act relating to unauthorised access to digital records.

For legal professionals, this case serves as a reminder of the growing intersection between healthcare regulation and cyber law. Hospitals and medical institutions must ensure that their EMR systems have immutable audit logs and that access controls are strictly enforced. The direction to register an FIR also reinforces the principle that whistleblowers who report medical record tampering should be protected from retaliation, reports Supreme Today.

The magistrate has now directed Bellandur police to register the FIR and submit a report. The police investigation is expected to examine how the disputed entries were created or modified, who accessed the hospital's EMR system and the circumstances surrounding the doctor's subsequent termination.

The matter is next listed before the court on October 13, 2026. The allegations are yet to be established through investigation.