How failure to do the right test led to hefty fine for negligence
A private hospital in Jaipur had to pay a compensation of Rs 11 lakh on negligence grounds.
The accusation
Sonal Mehta, the petitioner mentioned in her complaint that during her pregnancy she was under the medical supervision of Dr Vikay Suren of Sevayatan Maternity and General Hospital in Japur. On January 17, 2007 she was admitted at the hospital for labour under the advice of Dr Vijay Suren. After examining the patient he advised some tests.
The following day the doctor informed that all the test results were normal and so it would be a normal delivery. The doctor then left for Ajmer, leaving the job of conducting the delivery to a house surgeon.
However, the hospital sources said that the baby Sonal delivered on January 18 at around 11:30 AM was still born owing to the ‘cord around its neck.’
The ruling
The district consumer dispute redressal forum found the hospital to be guilty of negligence, saying that a good USG by a specialist could have accurately diagnosed the cord around the neck.
However, the hospital didn’t conduct a USG on the day when Sonal was admitted or before the delivery. The forum maintained that the presence of an electronic fetal monitoring facility came within the purview of the hospital management.
The forum also pointed out that for doctors, not conducting sonography and relegating the task of delivery to inexperienced staff both came under medical negligence and were unbecoming of a medical practitioner.
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