Delhi doctor operates on leg of patient with head injury

A senior doctor at a Delhi government-run hospital, a dedicated facility for providing critical trauma services, wrongly performed a procedure on the leg of a patient who was admitted there with a head injury.

The negligence happened as the doctor, a senior resident at Sushruta Trauma Centre in Civil Lines area, mistook the patient with head injury for another patient admitted there with a fractured leg.

On Thursday, the doctor made a hole on the patient's right leg to put a pin inside. The patient was admitted to the hospital with injuries on his head and face following an accident.

"As the senior resident performed the procedure on the patient after putting him on anaesthesia, the patient could not realise or object to it," said Ajay Bahl, medical superintendent at the hospital.

After the negligence was brought to the attention of the authorities, a corrective procedure was done on the patient.

The doctor has been barred from conducting surgeries without supervision after a hospital panel found him at fault.

"A committee constituted to look into the matter found the senior resident was at fault. He has been barred from conducting surgeries without supervision with immediate effect," Bahl added.

In another case of medical negligence recently, a senior doctor at All India Institutes of Medical Sciences allegedly performed a procedure required for dialysis treatment on a 30-year-old woman, who had complained of abdominal pain.

The doctor also tampered with case documents to cover up his fault.