The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission recently directed a surgeon and a hospital to jointly and severally pay a compensation of Rs 75 lakhs to a patient who lost her right leg due to negligence in surgery.
The complaint was filed against Dr. Anirban Chatterjee and Nightingale Diagnostic & Medicare Centre Private Limited, Kolkata.
The surgery was carried out in the year 2015, when the patient was aged 17 years old. The procedure was conducted after the patient developed a lump in the right gluteal region. In 2015, a procedure known as vascular embolization was performed on the patient. However, during the surgery some amount of glue slipped into the main artery of the right leg. This subsequently led to the stoppage of blood circulation in the right leg of the patient and development of gangrene. Ultimately, the patient was shifted to Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi. Since the condition of the leg worsened, it had to be amputated to prevent further complications. She was subsequently certified to have 90% permanent disability.
In 2017, the patient, along with her father, filed the consumer complaint seeking a compensation of over Rs. 20 crores from the hospital and the doctor.
The Commission, after examining the evidence on record, found that negligence resulted in the slippage of N-Butyl Cyanoacrylate Glue entering into the artery of her right leg leading to stoppage of blood flow and amputation of her right leg. The Commission found that no informed consent was taken from the patient regarding the inherent risks in the surgical procedure. Since the patient had an Arterio-Venous Malformation (AVM), the doctor had the duty to specifically inform her about the inherent risks, rather than take a general consent in the stereotype format.
Jaita Mitra Basu and another v. Dr.Anirben Chatterjee and another | CC NO. 2644 OF 2017
