Ishika Kumar, Pune
The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) formulated an imperative decision that sanctioned a compulsive compensation amount of 30 lakh rupees payable by the Apollo Speciality Hospital in Chennai in consort with two other affiliated doctors, charged with neglect in medical care.
This verdict is the outcome of proceedings focused upon the allegations against the medical institution as well as its personnel regarding lacking care post-a spinal operation conducted in April, back in the year 2015. The patient who underwent this gross negligence remained unresponsive following the operation for a prolonged time and subsequently entered a state of coma, or vegetable state, as some call it. He succumbed during the legal investigation in April 2017.
The legal action was initiated by the deceased’s immediate family members and targeted not only the Chennai branch of the hospital and its parent entity but also included charges against the two medicos, Dr. Sajan K. Hegde, a consultant for spinal surgeries, and Dr. Vasantha Roopan, an expert in anesthesiology. The family’s interests were represented by Advocate Madhukar Pandey. It was alleged in the family’s submission that an operation performed on April 20, 2015, resulted in the patient never regaining consciousness, with the hospital and its doctors’ oversight identified as the causative factors.
The sequence leading to the patient’s unresponsive state post-operation, particularly the one where the surgical breathing aid was removed, was scrutinised heavily by the Commission, as there was a lack of any substantial explanation from the surgical team and the anaesthetist as to why the critical recommendation for reintubation was not pursued with urgency when the patient remained in an unresponsive state and embraced a permanent vegetative state, emphasising a complete failure in the duty of care. Hence, the NCDRC, on the 26th of February, ruled a significant lapse in time before reintubation as the notable factor in the fatal outcome.
The surgeon is deemed ‘vicariously liable’ as the staff did not carry out his advice, and the hospital was also liable for negligence. ‘It would be apt to award Rs 10 lakh in damages for failure to perform duty on anaesthetist Dr Vasantha Roopan, Rs 5 lakh on Dr S K Hegde for his vicarious role, and Rs 15 lakh on the hospital for having allowed this situation to precipitate’, the NCDRC said. Rs 50,000 as litigation costs to the complainants were also awarded.