Negligence in surgery, post-operative care: Hyderabad hospital, orthopaedic surgeon slapped Rs 20 lakh compensation
Medical Negligence
Hyderabad: Holding city-based Germanten Hospitals and its orthopaedic surgeon guilty of medical negligence while conducting a surgery and providing post-operative care, who allegedly suffered from a disability due to this, the Hyderabad District Consumer Commission III has directed them to pay Rs 20 lakh as compensation and Rs 25,000 as legal expenses to the patient.
While considering the complaint filed by the patient, the District Consumer Court observed that failure to correct a dislocated shoulder bone through surgery and the negligence of the treating doctors in providing post-operative care to the patient constituted "deficiency in service". Taking note of the fact that a second surgery was required, the Consumer Court concluded that the need for a second surgery proved that the first one had failed. Accordingly, the treating hospital and the doctor were asked to pay the compensation to the patient.
The case goes back to 2021, when the patient was admitted to the treating hospital on September 27 after a road accident. After undergoing surgery at the hospital, he was discharged on October 2.
It was submitted by the doctor's counsel, V Gowrishankar Rao, that he visited the hospital several times for follow-up examinations and only a junior doctor examined the patient.
As per the latest media report by ETV Bharat, the counsel submitted that when the surgery failed, the patient was readmitted to the hospital. However, instead of performing another surgery, allegedly, the treating hospital and doctor attempted to correct the dislocation manually. It was also alleged that, on being asked why the first surgery had failed, the treating doctor had reportedly told the complainant that a junior surgeon had performed the operation since 20 surgeries were scheduled on that day.
Following this, the complainant sought a second opinion elsewhere and underwent another surgery at a different hospital. Later, filing the consumer complaint, the patient alleged that he suffered permanent disability due to the negligence of the treating doctors who performed the surgery. The complainant, therefore, sought compensation for his mental and physical suffering.
On the other hand, the counsel for the hospital argued that the problem arose due to a lack of proper physiotherapy post-operation. Apart from this, the hospital also denied the allegation that a junior surgeon had operated. Relying on the records, the counsel claimed that only seven surgeries were performed that day.
After taking note of the arguments by both sides, the District Consumer Court observed that the post-operative examination prescriptions appeared to be written by a junior doctor, and no evidence was presented to show that physiotherapy had been advised.
Therefore, the Commission concluded that the need for a second surgery indicated the failure of the first one. It was observed that the hospital failed to provide necessary post-operative care which constituted negligence and a deficiency in service.
The Hyderabad District Consumer Commission-III has observed that failure to correct a dislocated shoulder bone through surgery and negligence of the doctors in post-operative care constitute "deficiency in service". The need for a second surgery is proof that the first one had failed, it stated. The court ordered Germanten Hospitals and the orthopadeic surgeon of Attapur in Hyderabad to pay Rs 20 lakh as compensation and Rs 25,000 towards expenses to the victim, reports ETV Bharat
