Ravinder Kaur was admitted to Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Hospital in Ludhiana on September 14, 2004 for removal of kidney stones. The doctors requested her husband to arrange for two bottles of blood. She underwent a cholecystectomy on September 18, during which one bottle of blood was transfused without any adverse reaction.
The second bottle of blood which was unused was stored by the hospital. This was used on September 21, but within five minutes of transfusion, Ravinder Kaur suffered an adverse reaction. The next day she developed jaundice, breathlessness, and a fall in blood pressure. She was referred to Christian Medical College & Hospital, where she died on September 24. Her husband Moninder Singh and three children filed a complaint before the Ludhiana district forum alleging negligence by the ESIC hospital as it did not have specialised blood storage facilities with an alarm system. The family stated the unused blood ought to have been returned back to the blood bank for proper storage. The forum observed the second bottle of blood caused severe complications either due to mismatch or contamination due to lack of proper storage facilities. It held the hospital liable for negligence resulting in death, for which it awarded a compensation of Rs5 lakh along with Rs5,000 litigation costs.
The hospital challenged this order, but the Punjab state commission dismissed its appeal. So it filed a revision petition. The National Commission observed hemolysis or destruction of blood will occur if it is stored in a freezer, and this can cause a fatal reaction. It pointed out that if proper storage facility was not available, it was the hospital's duty to send the unused blood unit back to the blood bank. By its order of June 18, the National Commission dismissed the hospital's revision and confirmed the order holding it liable to pay compensation. (The author is a consumer activist and has won the Govt. of India's National Youth Award for Consumer Protection. His email is jehangir.gai.columnist@outlook.in)
