Mumbai: A Kerala based family had to wait for 25 years to prove that their only son had died due to the medical negligence of the Tarapur Atomic Power station Hospital (TAPS) run by Nuclear Power Corporation of India. It was proved when the National consumer dispute redressal commission held the same.
The Commission in its judgment held that it was the collective negligence on the part of the hospital represented by its medical Superintendent. The Commission has thus directed the hospital to pay a compensation of Rs 16 lakhs to the complainant along with an interest of nine percent on the amount from the date of death of their son, which is from 1998.
Haridasan Pillai and his wife Chandrika Pillai on August 12,1998, had admitted their only son Harish to TAPS hospital, as he was running high fever. The duty doctor had checked him had taken his blood and urine samples for investigation.
Complainant realised that there was no improvement in Harish’s health condition and so they kept on requesting the doctors to refer him to BARC, Trombay, but it was refused, even though the patient was struggling for life. Finally after realising that Harish’s health was degrading, on August 16, 1998, had referred the patient to BARC hospital.
The doctors from BARC found that the kidneys of the patient had stopped functioning and there was acute respiratory problem, but due to non-availability of the facilities, it referred the patient to Jaslok Hospital for specialized treatment. However its was too late, as the day the patient was admitted he died.
Being aggrieved by the negligence, the complainant filed a case against the hospital towards their negligent behaviour. The complainant couple had moved to several commissions, seeking justice, but none of them delivered them justice. Finally the case reached upon to the National Commission through an appeal filed against the State Commission’s orders.
The hospital in its reply denied the allegations and said that there was no negligence from their end. The hospital in their reply said “Patient was admitted to the Hospital with high grade fever and bodyache and standard line of treatment was adopted. The patient was attended to by various qualified doctors, who treated the patient with all due required steps till the discharge of the patient from the Hospital on 16.07.1998. Necessary blood tests, pathological tests etc. were advised and done. The X-ray reports, pathological reports were normal. The urgent investigations with regard to the condition of the patient were advised, the reports of which suggested acute renal failure and impending Septicaemia, due to which the decision to refer the patient to the BARC Hospital, Mumbai was taken.“
The Commission after going through the evidence and the ‘say’ of both the parties, held that looking at the medical papers, the case is nothing short of serious medical negligence. “It is not my contention that the Doctors should have given some other treatment, it is my contention that this hospital was just not equipped to handle such situation. The State Commission has missed the critical point. By the time the patient was referred to BARC Hospital on the evening of 16.07.1998, the patient had already crossed the stage of any recovery. The Expert Opinion of the hospital is in my opinion, nothing more than covering up the mistake committed by TAPS hospital and its administration,” the commission held.
