The Thane District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed a hospital in Kalyan town to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to a man for a botched medical procedure and deficiency in services following which his leg was amputated.
The commission in its order passed on March 23 also asked the hospital to pay Rs 30,000 as cost of the complaint to the complainant Yogesh Ramkumar Pal.
The commission dismissed the complaint against a doctor at the hospital and the insurance company, who were the opponents in the case along with the hospital.
Pal informed the commission that on October 22, 2010, he fell from a motorbike and suffered injuries to his right knee.
He was unable to walk and was taken to the hospital in Kalyan town in Maharashtra’s Thane district where he was given initial treatment and a plaster was applied to his leg. He was discharged the next day.
Two days later, he felt there was no sensation in his right leg and got admitted to the hospital where doctors opined that due to tight application of the plaster, blood circulation was obstructed and advised him to approach the King Edward Memorial (KEM) in neighbouring Mumbai.
Doctors at the KEM were of the view that due to wrong and negligent application of plaster at the hospital in Kalyan, the blood circulation to the man’s right leg was obstructed and stopped. They advised amputation of the right leg which was done on October 29, 2010.
The complainant told the commission that he lost his right leg due to the wrong, negligent and faulty treatment at the Kalyan-based hospital and incurred permanent disability.
The complainant was operated again as he had developed gangrene. His entire lower leg from the right thigh was amputated by operation.
The complainant could not appear for the Class 12 examination and suffered loss of the academic year. He submitted that he is still not in a fit mental condition due to the shock and it has affected his livelihood.
The complainant later got an artificial leg affixed for which he spent more than Rs 3.5 lakh and sought a compensation from the hospital.
The consumer commission’s president Vijay C Premchandani and member Poonam V Maharshi noted that after discharge on October 23, 2010, the complainant felt there was absolutely no sensation in his right leg.
Hence, his father took him to the hospital immediately and admitted him at around 10 am. Thereafter, at about 5 pm, he was referred to the KEM hospital immediately for further treatment. The said fact has been admitted by the hospital.
It is also admitted that the patient was having emergency and it was seen and observed by a doctor, who advised that he be taken to the KEM Hospital for further investigation and treatment, if any, the commission said.
Since the opponents in their written statement admitted they were having resident doctors available round-the-clock, then why the complainant was kept from 10 am till 5 pm on October 25, 2010, it said.
Hence, it is proved from the fact and evidence produced on record that the hospital was deficient in service due to which the complainant has unnecessarily suffered, the commission said.
