Hospital to deposit ₹30L after needle left in woman’s uterus

The Delhi State Consumer Redressal Commission has imposed a cost of ₹30 lakh on a private hospital for its deficient service in a case in which a woman was left with a needle in her uterus after delivery.

The commission, while dismissing the appeal of Shree Jeewan Hospital in north Delhi, upheld the district forum’s order asking the hospital to pay the compensation to north-east Delhi resident Rubina. It also noted that instead of employing a qualified doctor, the hospital got its job done by a pharmacist.

“Instead of employing a qualified doctor who draws a salary of around ₹2 lakh, the hospital is getting the job done by a pharmacist. How many such episiotomy wounds have been stitched by ... (pharmacist) is anybody’s guess,” the bench headed by member NP Kaushik said.

“The appeal preferred by the hospital is dismissed. The hospital is burdened with costs of ₹30 lakh for being ‘negligent’ and ‘deficient in service’. The said costs shall be deposited by the hospital in Consumer Welfare Fund of the State maintained by this commission,” it said.

It also noted that there was an attempt by the hospital to manipulate the records to cover up the fact that the delivery was effected by a doctor who was not competent to do the surgery.

“The hospital has gone to the extent of manipulating the records to make believe that it was a doctor and nurse who conducted the delivery,” the bench said.

According to the complaint, Rubina was admitted to the hospital on September 15, 2009, for delivery and she gave birth to a girl child. The plea alleged that while conducting the delivery, the doctors left a needle in her uterus due to which she was bleeding profusely and suffered pain and trauma but the doctors did not pay heed to her problem.

After an X-ray was conducted, the needle was removed from the uterus in the same hospital, it said. It also said when Rubina underwent an ultrasound in November 2009, it was revealed that her uterus had retroflexed and she would not be able to conceive again. She then filed a complaint against the hospital before the police and consumer forum.

The hospital, which denied negligence, admitted the presence of the needle in her uterus.

However, the Delhi Medical Council had opined that there is no case of medical negligence.

The district forum had asked the hospital to pay Rubina the compensation, which was challenged by it in the state commission.

Robbery, cheating, causing grievous hurt, and attempt to commit culpable homicide are all punishable by up to seven years in prison. Now add another crime to the list that may attract such a stringent punishment: messing with the Ganga.

A Centre-appointed panel has drafted a bill, the National River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Bill, 2017, which, if passed into law, will also prescribe seven years in jail and a fine of up to ₹100 crore for anyone who commits a range of offences on the river, including blocking its flow, quarrying banks, or constructing jetties without permission. The Uttarakhand high court recently declared the river a “living entity” and the panel’s bill makes it emphatically clear that troubling it can be a costly affair, if converted into the country’s first ever act on a river.

Among others, the panel, led by retired justice Giridhar Malaviya, also suggested declaring an area abutting within a kilometre from Ganga and its major tributaries as a “water saving zone”. The panel, though, has suggested that such zones may be defined after conducting scientific studies within six months after the bill is enacted.

The government has forwarded the draft, submitted to the water resources ministry in April, to another expert committee to seek its suggestions on the bill, which will be further discussed with the basin states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar before the final draft is out.

“Since the issue relates to the basin states of Ganga and its tributaries, the Centre wants to discuss the draft with the state governments first. Such a meeting shall be convened in the near future,” said ministry sources.

THE COMMISSION ALSO NOTED THAT INSTEAD OF A QUALIFIED DOCTOR, THE GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL GOT ITS JOB DONE BY A PHARMACIST THE UTTARAKHAND HIGH COURT HAD RECENTLY DECLARED THE RIVER A ‘LIVING ENTITY’