AB positive blood administered to B positive patient: Hospital, 2 doctors held liable for negligence, slapped Rs 5 lakh compensation
Medical Negligence
Raipur: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Raipur, directed a private hospital and two doctors to pay Rs 5 lakh in compensation to a patient who was administered AB-positive blood despite having a B-positive blood group.
The Commission held that the incorrect blood-group determination and subsequent transfusion amounted to medical negligence and deficiency in service.
The Bench passed the order on September 29, 2026. Apart from the compensation awarded for mental agony, the Commission directed the hospital and doctors to pay Rs 10,000 towards litigation expenses.
According to a report by The Indian Express, the case dates back to February 2014, when the woman sustained a femur fracture in a road accident while returning to Raipur from a family function in Bilaspur. She was subsequently admitted to a private hospital for treatment.
The woman alleged that the hospital began her treatment only after receiving a deposit of Rs 25,000. During her admission, a blood sample was collected, and the hospital reported her blood group as AB-positive. Based on this finding, three units of AB-positive blood were arranged.
However, the complainant maintained that her blood group was B-positive and that she had informed the hospital staff about it. Despite this, she alleged that AB-positive blood was administered to her.
Soon after the transfusion began, she reportedly developed severe discomfort, vomiting and dizziness, following which the transfusion was stopped. She also complained of blood-like discharge in her urine and had to be shifted back from the operation theatre to the intensive care unit.
Subsequent blood-group testing, including a test conducted through a blood bank, identified her blood group as B-positive. The earlier AB-positive finding was also flagged as an incorrect blood sample.
The woman approached the consumer commission, alleging that the hospital and treating doctors had been negligent in determining her blood group and administering incompatible blood.
The hospital and doctors denied the allegations. They contended that the patient had been in a state of shock following the accident and that certain medical circumstances could lead to discrepancies in blood-group testing.
They submitted that toxins released during shock could affect red blood cells and interfere with accurate blood-group reporting. They also maintained that the transfusion had been stopped promptly after the patient developed symptoms.
While examining the complaint, the Commission considered the initial blood-group report, which recorded AB-positive, and the subsequent blood findings identifying the earlier result as incorrect. Another test conducted on February 20, 2014, had also confirmed the woman's blood group as B-positive.
The Commission examined the hospital's explanation that shock, dehydration, temperature changes, intravenous fluids and medicines could have affected the blood-group findings.
To address this argument, it sought a medical opinion from the civil surgeon--chief hospital superintendent of the district hospital on whether such circumstances could alter a person's blood group.
The medical authority clarified that circumstantial factors could not change a person's blood group.
Taking note of this opinion and the subsequent blood-group reports, the Commission rejected the hospital's defence.
As reported by The Indian Express, the Commission held that the woman had a B-positive blood group but had been administered AB-positive blood. It found that recording her blood group incorrectly and proceeding with the transfusion constituted deficiency in service and an unfair trade practice.
The Commission also considered the physical and mental distress experienced by the complainant after the transfusion. It observed that the possibility of a fatal outcome from administering an incompatible blood group could not be ruled out.
The consumer commission consequently held the hospital and two doctors liable for medical negligence and directed them to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation for mental agony, along with Rs 10,000 towards litigation costs.
