A consumer forum has granted ₹5 lakh to a Bengaluru-based woman, over two decades after she underwent surgery at a private hospital in the city and a 3.2-centimeter surgical needle was left in her body. The hospital and two doctors have been ordered by the Karnataka State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission to give Padmavathi, a Jayanagar resident, ₹50,000 for lawsuit costs.
New India Assurance Co Ltd, the company that had provided a policy that covered the hospital bills, has also been ordered to reimburse her ₹5 lakh for "the professional and medical negligence caused." The two doctors are said to have performed the hernia operation on the 32-year-old patient on September 29, 2004, at Deepak Hospital.
In accordance with the Commission's directive, her appendix was also removed after the procedure. She complained of excruciating pain the next day, and doctors provided her with some painkillers while assuring her that it was only post-operative discomfort and would eventually go away. The order stated that she was admitted to the same hospital twice after experiencing severe stomach and back discomfort for a number of years.
Later, in 2010, Padmavathi went to another private hospital in this area. A scan revealed that she had a foreign body in her abdomen and back, and it was advised that she get it removed (by surgery). She then had surgery to remove the 3.2 cm surgical needle, and the following year, she complained to the consumer forum.
The complainant underwent multiple procedures and had the surgical needle removed when she was approximately thirty-two years old, according to the forum. "Definitely she suffered severe pain and inconvenience till removal of the surgical needle," according to the order.
It further stated that the two doctors are obliged to pay ₹50,000 in litigation fees to the complainant and that she is therefore entitled to "global compensation" of ₹5 lakh, which the insurance company (New India Assurance Company Limited) is required to pay.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Priyanka Pandey/MSM)