The NCDRC has ordered a private hospital in Kerala to pay damages to a couple 17 years after their son was born mentally challenged.
Consumer forum orders damages to parents of mentally challenged teen.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram to pay damages to a couple 17 years after their son was born mentally challenged.
Shibu Thomas and Geeta had blamed the hospital staff for the condition of their firstborn, whose brain was damaged due to lack of oxygen during delivery.
The commission, which ordered Rs11.35 lakh as compensation, ruled that the doctors who attended to Geeta should have opted for caesarian to avoid birth asphyxia.
The couple, who had spent a large chunk of their savings on their mentally challenged son, had asked for Rs4.5 lakh. The commission fixed the sum calculating the interest on the claim.
Geeta gave birth to Naveen at the Cosmopolitan Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on December 30, 1989. Though the child did not cry or suckle, the hospital staff did not care to give emergency treatment including supplying oxygen. Though the mother and child were discharged three days later, they returned the same day with the child running temperature. They were referred to another hospital, where the child was diagnosed as brain-damaged due to birth asphyxia. The baby had come out of the placenta when the doctors waited for Geeta to develop labour pain, it was revealed. The baby was oxygen-deprived even before he came out of the womb.
"The baby was not crying. The doctors did not do anything then. We are not happy to get the money. We will give twice that amount to the hospital if they can make our son normal," Geetha said. Geetha, a teacher, had to quit her job to look after her son. Her husband Shibu is a bank employee. The couple has two more sons, younger to Naveen.
Though the couple approached the state consumer forum, their case was dismissed in 1995. "We didn't go till the apex body for the money. Nobody should do what the hospital and doctors did to us. Our tragedy should not be repeated," Shibu said.
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