Negligence during surgery: 2 doctors, nursing home to pay Rs 10 lakh

New Delhi: A nursing home and its two doctors have been directed by a consumer forum to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation to a woman for leaving a piece of sponge in her abdomen during an operation in 2012 resulting in formation of 1.5 litre pus in her body.

East Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, presided over by NA Zaidi, directed Dr AK Jain, Dr Usha Jain and Rishabh Medical centre, where they were working, to pay the amount to Kailash Nagar resident Sweta Khandelwal who was operated upon by them while delivering her child.

"We hold the other parties (doctors and medical centre) negligent in providing the treatment to the complainant .... They have violated the ethics of medical profession," the forum said, noting the woman had to suffer severe medical problems which could have been life-threatening.

Observing that the infection in the body would continue to haunt her throughout her life, the forum said "had the complainant died, the child born to her on September 13, 2012, may have never received the love and care of her mother..."

"Taking into consideration all the above factors, we allow the damages to the tune of Rs 10 lakh to be paid by the parties jointly and severally, although this amount may never bring back the healthy life of the complainant," it said.

According to the complainant, she was operated upon in the medical centre by these two doctors in September 2012 during delivery of her child and she was discharged later on. Soon after she was discharged, she complained of abdomen pain, after which she consulted the doctors in the same nursing home, she said, adding, the doctors assured her everything was fine.

After her condition deteriorated, she was admitted in another hospital and was operated upon and 1.5 litre pus was found in her abdomen because of septicaemia and severe infection. She told the consumer forum that during her second surgery, it was found that a piece of sponge was present in her abdomen due to the negligence of the doctors in her operation during the child birth.