An orthopaedic doctor from Bhayander, who had botched a surgery on a 75-year-old woman’s spine, has been ordered to compensate by paying over Rs2 lakh.
The Thane District Consumer Redressal Forum recently ruled that Dr Bhaskar Shetty had shown negligence and hence was deficient in his services.
In a complaint to the forum, the daughter of the patient, Shyamadevi, had said that her mother suffered from lumbar spondylosis, and doctors in her home city of Allahabad had advised surgery of the afflicted part of her verterbra which is referred to as ‘disc L4-5’ in medical lingo.
The hospital had billed the patient Rs1.29 lakh besides her expenditure of Rs35,000 to purchase medicines.
The patient, however, did not recover after even the surgery; the pain in her spine persisted. Her relatives later took her to get a scan done in Allahabad.
The scan report showed: “Laminoctomy done at L 2-3 level, L 4-5 disc is as it is.” In other words, it said that instead of operating upon the affected part of the spine, some other part had been operated upon. The patient was advised to refer back to the surgeon who had operated upon her.
The complaint said that Shyamadevi had been confined to the bed for life due to “carelessness of the doctor”.
The forum, in its order, said that the respondent (doctor) had not objected to the complaint. The forum said that it would be proper to accept the matters mentioned in the complaint. The amount of Rs 2 lakh includes Rs60,000 compensation.
President of the forum, Sneha S Mhatre, and members Madhuri Vishwarupe and N D Kadam, ordered the doctor to refund Rs 1.29 lakh taken as medical bills with 6% interest by December 19, failing which he has to pay interest at 9% till realization. Besides, the forum ordered the doctor to pay Rs50,000 compensation and Rs. 10,000 expenses to the complaint by December 19.