A Bengaluru consumer court has found a private hospital, an internal medicine consultant, a radiologist, and a diagnostic center guilty of negligence in diagnosing a man with advanced lung cancer.

The patient was admitted to the hospital in May 2021 with symptoms of bloody sputum and was not given a chest X-ray or CT scan. After being discharged, his family sought a CT scan at another diagnostic center on the advice of a different doctor, but the findings were allegedly not accurately reported. In June 2021, he was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer at another hospital and passed away shortly after. His wife filed a complaint in January 2022, alleging negligence in the timely diagnosis.

During the hearings, the hospital claimed a chest X-ray was conducted, showing no infection, but failed to provide evidence of the X-ray. The hospital also argued that the patient had tested positive for Covid-19 and underwent sputum tests that showed no severe complications. The diagnostic center contended it couldn’t be blamed due to a lack of access to the patient’s history and stated that detecting stage IV cancer via a CT scan alone was not possible.

The court ruled that the hospital and consultant were negligent for not conducting appropriate scans, and the diagnostic center and radiologist failed to report a large mass found in the CT scan. The four parties were ordered to jointly pay Rs 1 lakh in compensation and Rs 10,000 towards litigation costs to the family.

(Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Dr. Sruthi Suresh/MSM)