Patient can't be shifted out of ICU for non-payment: Commission

In a significant ruling, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has said that a critically ill patient cannot be shifted from the ICU to a general ward merely because he or she is unable to foot the high cost of treatment.

The NCDRC held that the prime object of the medical profession is to render service to humanity. Reward or financial gain is a secondary consideration and any deviation from such norms could amount to deficiency of service under the Consumer Protection Act.

"Medical interest of the patient cannot be sacrificed at the altar of personal gain of the doctor or the nursing home," the Commission said while upholding the compensation of Rs50,000 to the family of a man, who died after he was shifted from the ICU in a critical condition as he could not afford to pay the high bills.

The patient, Nirmal Kumar Nag, suffering from septicaemia was admitted in the ICU unit of a Kolkata-based hospital under the treatment of Dr Basujit Gangopadhyay in January 2007.

When Nirmal's son Ajayendu expressed his inability to bear the cost of the ICU, Gangopadhyay shifted the patient to the general ward, where his condition worsened and he died.