Pune: Six years after a doctor botched up a delivery, she has been apprehended for her negligence. Additional Pune District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum penalised doctor Dr Surekha Mungase who failed to address a pregnant woman’s delivery on time, which further led to complications. The forum directed the doctor to pay the complainant Ayesha Sameer Khan an amount of Rs7 lakh towards compensation and reimbursement for medical fees.
Ayesha Sameer Khan, resident of Kondhwa Khurd was brought to Dr Surekha Mungase’s hospital on old Pune-Nashik road on August 12, 2008 after she completed full term for delivery. But when the doctor suggested that third time pregnant Ayesha might require a C-section, family members took her home. The next day at 9am, her pains worsened and she was brought back to hospital where complainant alleged no gynecologist was called (since Mungase was an ayurvedic doctor) for C-section delivery.
The doctor told forum that the patient’s relative weren’t ready for a caesarean delivery but the forum observed that the woman was still conscious and if her husband refused then her consent should have been taken.
The complainant alleged that the doctor kept trying for natural birth and even induced labour, which worsened her condition. The forum observed that despite the fact that the case was risky and the hospital wasn’t equipped to handle complications, the patient wasn’t shifted to a higher hospital until case became complicated. At the other hospital, the woman was admitted with ruptured uterus and delivering a dead child before undergoing hysterectomy.
Ayesha had also dragged panelists of a medical forum at Aundh Civil Hospital, who initially looked at her case claiming they delivered a one-sided order to the forum, the Forum didn’t pass any judgement on the panel.
They rather relied on a report submitted by a second panel of doctors from Sassoon General Hospital who observed that the pregnant woman had been coming to the doctor since many months but there was no proper pregnancy planning done. The second panel report also observed that Mungase didn’t conduct a pelvic examination and even that consent signature was tampered with whose object is not clear.
”If the case was complicated, the doctor should have asked the patient’s relatives to take her to a government or higher hospital or else taken the woman’s consent and delivered by C-section. Despite not being qualified to perform a Cesarean operation, the doctor has no record to prove she called a gynaecologist for the risky case. Besides induction of labour was risky in this patient,” observed forum.
Observing that not only did complainant lose her child but lost ability to have children at 22years of age and is facing serious health problems owing to doctor’s negligence, the forum awarded Ayesha, a partial compensation of Rs 5lakh for physical and mental harassment, Rs 2lakh for expense of hospitalisation and Rs 2000 for legal costs.
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