Hospital, not doctor, to pay for negligence

NEW DELHI: The state consumer commission has ruled that the hospital,
not the doctor, will be liable to compensate a patient in case of a
botched-up surgery or any other kind of medical negligence.

Delivering the judgment, Justice J D Kapoor said: "Whenever a patient
lands in any hospital, nursing home or medical centre, he is directly
availing the services of the said hospital...and not the treating
doctor. Hence, if the patient suffers due to medical negligence or
carelessness of the doctor, the liability will fall on the hospital."

The complaint filed by a patient, Mohammed Azmal, claimed that he was
admitted to the hospital in 1996 because of stomach pain. He was
diagnosed with gallstones and told by the doctors that the gall
bladder was to be removed through laparoscopy. Azmal agreed to undergo
the procedure for a package deal of Rs 37,500.

But the doctor botched the keyhole surgery. An endoscopy report after
the operation revealed a duct that was not sealed properly and
resulted in accumulation of fluid in the stomach. Three more
operations had to be performed on the patient whose condition had
become critical. This raised the bill to almost Rs 1.6 lakh.
In its defence, the hospital pleaded that the consulting doctor was
not an employee of the hospital and the hospital was not responsible
for any alleged negligence or deficiency in service in diagnosing and
giving treatment on the part of the consultant doctor. It also pleaded
the ailment required close investigation and detailed enquiry, hence
there was no question of a package scheme.

The hospital added the complainant was told that his gall bladder was
inflamed due to a stone and therefore the lap chole method
(laparascopic removal of the gall bladder) may not be feasible and
conventional surgery would have to be done.

Quashing this plea, Justice J D Kapoor asked that had lap chole not
been feasible, why was the patient subjected to this method?