A report by a Haryana Assembly committee has revealed that in 2017 and 2018, five cases of medical negligence were reported from Gurugram-based private super speciality hospitals, including Fortis, Medanta and Artemis.
Apart from this, one case of medical negligence each from Panchkula and Hisar districts and two cases from Jhajjar district were also reported during the same period.
Report tabled
The report by ‘Haryana Vidhan Sabha Subject Committee on Education, Technical Education, Vocational Education, Medical Education and Health Services – 2019-20’, which was presented in the State Assembly earlier this week, pointed out that two complaints of medical negligence were found to be correct against Fortis hospital, Gurugram, by the Medical Negligence Board in 2017, besides in 2018, two such complaints against Medanta hospital and one against Artemis hospital in Gurugram were found to be correct.
‘Judgemental error’
According to the report in the case of death of sixty-one-year-old Savitri Devi in 2018, where the complaint was made against Artemis hospital, the medical board found a “partial negligence” as it observed “...during treatment, all possible measures were taken to combat the complication, however, there was a judgmental error on the part of the operating team (orthopaedician) to undertake an aggressive surgical approach for an old patient with multiple co-morbid conditions. All possible measures to combat complication were taken..hence, no evidence of medical negligence has been found in the case by the board of doctors.”
In the complaint, filed by Haryana Medical Council pertaining to Gopendra Singh, whose child was admitted at Medanta hospital, the Board held that while there was no negligence in treatment, but hospital was found overcharging for blood products.
“There was no negligence done in the treatment and care by the doctors at the hospital, however, it was found the hospital has charged ₹1,950 per unit against supply of RDPs (random donor platelets) to the patient instead of ₹400 per unit fixed for dengue patients as per government guidelines,” the Board said.
No cardiologists’
In another case at Medanta hospital, where Hawa Singh (72) had died, the medical board observed: “Considering the very critical condition of the patient with acute coronary syndrome and cardiogenic shock, the patient should have been physically examined by Dr Praveen Chandra (consultant) on urgent basis, which was not done in this case. And also in his absence, there are no records of any cardiologists examining the patient from 4 p.m. to 6.50 p.m. It is presumed that the patient was not under direct care of any cardiologist for which the hospital is responsible.”
In the case of death of fifty-one-year-old Seema in 2017, the medical board probing the complaint against Fortis hospital, concluded that the patient, who was rushed to such a big hospital at night with chest pain and as the doctor stated, had a possibility of heart attack – not giving emergency medicines to her is “negligence”.
