NCDRC awards Rs 2 cr to family after woman’s healthy kidney removed in botched surgery

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has awarded Rs 2 crore compensation to the family of a woman who died after a botched surgery in 2012 due to gross medical negligence.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has awarded Rs 2 crore compensation to the family of a woman who died after her healthy left kidney was removed instead of the diseased right kidney in 2012, describing the botched surgery as ''one of those gravest forms of negligence''.

The commission comprising President A P Sahi and member Bharatkumar Pandya was hearing a complaint filed by the family of 56-year-old deceased Shanti Devi. It held Dr Rajeev Lochan, a surgeon in Uttar Pradesh, liable for gross medical negligence.

In an order dated May 18, the NCDRC said, ''We have no doubt in our mind that this is one of those gravest forms of negligence that is rarely witnessed for a judicial approximation before courts and tribunals.''.

According to the prosecution, Shanti Devi had approached the doctor in April 2012 with abdominal pain and was diagnosed with severe hydronephrosis in the right kidney. Medical reports prior to surgery showed both kidneys were intact, with the right kidney identified as diseased.

The commission noted that the patient underwent surgery on May 6, 2012, for removal of the right kidney. However, subsequent radiological examinations and CT scans conducted in June 2012 revealed that the right kidney was still present while the healthy left kidney was missing.

It noted that the doctor himself admitted in his written reply that a ''right sided incision was made but the left kidney was removed''.

''Opposite Party (doctor) leaves no room for doubt that the left kidney had been removed in spite of the fact that the entire diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and the subject matter of histopathology was the right kidney,'' it said.

The NCDRC also referred to findings of the Uttar Pradesh Medical Council and the Medical Council of India, both of which had held the doctor negligent. The UP Medical Council had suspended his medical registration for two years and found that a forged case sheet had been submitted in his defence.

The patient remained on dialysis for nearly two years and died on February 20, 2014. The commission held that the failed right kidney, which should have been removed, continued to deteriorate her condition.

''In our opinion, it is a clear finding of gross negligence that a qualified doctor was unable to ascertain whether he was removing the right or the left kidney when he had clearly planned the removal of the right kidney only,'' the bench said.

Calling the removal of the healthy kidney a ''medical disaster and negligence of the highest order'', the commission said the patient ''would have survived longer'' had the left kidney remained intact.

The NCDRC directed the doctor to pay Rs 1.5 crore as compensation for negligence and Rs 10 lakh each to the complainants towards loss of consortium, love and affection. It also awarded Rs 1 lakh towards legal expenses.

''Accordingly, the complainants will be entitled to a total sum of Rs 2 crore as compensation from the Opposite Party,'' it ordered.

The amount is to be paid within three months along with six per cent annual interest from February 20, 2014, till actual payment, failing which the interest rate would increase to nine per cent.