Delay in treatment is negligence

The commission awarded Rs 10 lakh as compensation, out of which, Rs 8 lakh would be payable by hospital

Devanand Landage, 12, suffered a snake bite on October 15, 2007, at 6.45 pm. His father Parshuram Landage rushed him to Mahatma Gandhi Mission Hospital in Belapur, where Dr Sheenu Gupta first demanded a deposit. Parshuram paid the money by pawning his wife's gold ornaments. He also brought the medicines as advised by the doctor. However, the child died at 8.30 pm. 

Parshuram filed a complaint before the Additional Forum for Thane District alleging that his child had died due to delay in treatment. The complaint, contested by the hospital as well as the doctor, denied any negligence and also raised various objections. The Forum concluded that there was no negligence.

Parshuram Landage appealed to the Maharashtra State Commission. The hospital claimed that it was a charitable institution registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act and was run on a no-profit, no-loss basis, and did charitable work for weaker sections of the society. It reiterated its defence that Landage could not be called a consumer and that the complaint was not maintainable as treatment was given completely free of charge. The State Commission overruled this objection, observing that free patients would be considered to be consumers in a hospital which also has patients who pay. It held Landage to be a consumer entitled to file the complaint.

The Commission observed that the child was brought to the hospital at 7.00 pm, within 15 minutes after the snake bite, but treatment was started at 7.39 pm, after admission. Gangubai Thanakedar who was accompanying the child also deposed to the delay. The delay was due to the time taken to pawn the jewellery to raise money.

The hospital asserted that there was no negligence. It claimed that the child was brought in a critical condition. Even though two ampoules of anti-snake venom were administered, the boy died. The death certificate was issued without conducting a post mortem as the family did not want it and the cause of death was known.

The hospital relied on its internal inquiry committee report which found that there was no delay or negligence. Landage questioned its credibility as the committee appointed by the hospital was an interested party. Besides, the committee members had not filed any affidavit in support of the report submitted by them.

The Commission noted a discrepancy in the record where it was mentioned that anti-snake venom was administered at 7.30 pm, even though it was ordered subsequently at 7.40 pm.

The State Commission observed a noting in the medical record that no ventilator not available. It wondered how a hospital having the reputation of being good and well equipped could be without a ventilator, and why it admitted the child for treatment when it did not have the necessary infrastructure.

In its order of March 16, 2020, delivered by Dr S K Kakade for the Bench headed by Justice Bhangale, the Maharashtra State Commission concluded that the internal inquiry report was not acceptable, and held that the child had died due to delay and negligence. It awarded Rs 10 lakh as compensation, out of which Rs 8 lakh would be payable by the hospital and Rs 2 lakh by the doctor. Also, a further sum of Rs 2 lakh was awarded towards mental agony and Rs 25,000 as litigation costs.

The writer is a consumer activist