Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Medical negligence: hospital told to pay damages

Staff Reporter

Thiruvananthapuram: It has been a 17-year wait for justice for Shibu Thomas and his wife, Geetha.

Settling one of the oldest consumer cases against medical negligence filed in the State, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered Cosmopolitan Hospitals (P) Ltd. to pay Rs.11.29 lakh as compensation to the couple.

The case was that the hospital's negligence in treating Geetha resulted in their newborn suffering from birth asphyxia (lack of oxygen supply during birth), leaving him retarded for life.

Geetha was under the care of a senior consultant gynaecologist at Cosmopolitan Hospitals in 1989 for her first pregnancy. Her expected date of delivery was December 6, 1989. On December 11, doctors attempted to induce labour. On December 13, the baby was born after a second attempt at inducing labour.

The contention of Geetha was that there were several symptoms of foetal distress but the doctors did not do anything. The baby was born asphyxiated, but nothing was done immediately to resuscitate the infant, it was alleged.

The mother and baby were discharged on the third day of delivery but within 16 hours, the infant was admitted to SAT Hospital. Tests revealed that lack of oxygen at birth had led to a condition called Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy.

The child, Naveen, turns 17 this year. He is mentally retarded, physically disabled, and has epileptic seizures. Geetha gave up her job as a lecturer to take care of him.

The case first came up before the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in 1991 and dragged on till 1997. It was dismissed, as the complainants "could not prove conclusively, the doctors' negligence."

Geetha's father, T.C. George, a retired Government employee, however, filed an appeal before the National Commission.

The National Commission ruled in May this year that there was negligence on the part of doctors in attending to Geetha and averting birth asphyxia.

For Mr. George, Geetha, and Shibu, manager of Federal Bank's Venjaramoodu branch, the delivery of justice brings little cheer.

"Our loss can never be compensated... My only satisfaction is that I was able to hold out my fight for justice for the past 16 years," Mr. George said.

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