The High Court has upheld the Thiruvananthapuram principal sub-court’s verdict directing PRS Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, and urologist N. Gopakumar to pay a compensation of ₹20.4 lakh to a patient who became paraplegic after a surgery.
The Bench comprising Justice S.V. Bhatti and Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas passed the verdict while dismissing an appeal filed by the hospital management and the doctor against the sub-court’s order.
The compensation was awarded on a suit filed by P. Anilkumar of Kattakada. According to him, he was diagnosed with secondary calculi in the right kidney and was advised to undergo keyhole surgery to remove the calculi. He was admitted to the hospital on September 25, 2005, and the operation commenced under general anaesthesia on September 27. Within 30 minutes, the operation was halted. He could not move. Subsequently, he was referred to the Sree Chithira Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences, where spinal subdural clots were detected. He suffered permanent damage to his lower limbs. He alleged that his illness and disability occurred due to the injury sustained on the spinal cord during the keyhole surgery performed by the urology specialist. The doctor did it in the most callous, negligent, and irresponsible manner, the petitioner said.
Hospital’s version
The doctor and the hospital management contended that the problems arose either because of a pre-existing aneurysm rupture or because of cardiac arrest that occurred while the patient was inside the operation theatre. In either case, there was no negligence on the part of the doctor while performing the operation. The operation was abandoned to treat the unexpected complications shown by the patient.
