CHENNAI : The Madras High Court has directed the Kilpauk Medical College and Government Hospital to pay a compensation of Rs. 2 lakh towards the death of a patient due to negligent medical treatment.

Justice P.K. Misra passed the order on a writ petition preferred by R. Kennedy, along with his minor son K. Samraj, stating that his wife Shantha Kennedy, a qualified nurse, was admitted in the maternity and childcare department of the hospital on November 13, 1997.

According to the petitioner, Shantha died on November 15, 1997 due to faulty and negligent treatment rendered by doctors and paramedics of the department. The baby was a `stillborn.'

He prayed for a compensation of over Rs. 17 lakh, stating that despite deterioration of the condition of his wife after her admission in the hospital, proper treatment was not given.

The two-day delay in commencing a procedure cost the life of his wife and the child, he submitted.

The hospital and its Dean denied the allegations and maintained that there was no negligence on their part. The Government advocate opposed the petition also on the ground that the petitioner ought to have approached a civil court or a consumer forum for seeking necessary relief.

Independent expert

Mr. Justice Misra, however, felt necessary to obtain the opinion of an independent expert and asked a senior doctor in a leading hospital in Chennai to give opinion in the matter.

In his report, the doctor said that at the time of admission itself Shantha was "post-dated" and that delivery was over-due by over a week. Still she was kept for one more day without intervention, he pointed out, and concluded that "there was certain amount of delay." The Judge said it would be "mockery of justice" to observe, after more than seven years after the death, that the petitioner should go to a civil court.

He then said, "the circumstances are tell-tale. It is obvious even to a layman that no effective steps were taken by the hospital authorities for more than two days, even though by the time the patient came to the hospital the delivery date was overdue by at least one week... The opinion of the expert as well as the admitted materials on record clearly indicate that there was a delay in starting the treatment. So the death had occurred due to negligence in treatment."

Observing that the loss could not be assessed in terms monetary compensation, Mr. Justice Misra directed the hospital and its Dean to pay a lump sum compensation of Rs. 2 lakh.

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