Hospitals must follow standard treatment

A patient who goes to a hospital must be treated as per the standard lines of medical treatment and any deviation will be termed as medical negligence. This was laid down by the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission in Rohini Hospital and another vs P Shashikala and others.

Narender Reddy, Shashikala’s husband, developed pain in the abdomen and went to Rohini Hospital for treatment. He was advised surgery of the gall bladder. On the second day after surgery, the patient started complaining of severe pain in the abdomen but the doctors said that he would be all right soon.

Despite the assurances, his condition worsened and he was shifted to the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) at Hyderabad, where he died after ten days. Shashikala filed a complaint in the district consumer forum saying that the hospital was responsible because of poor post-operative care.

The forum passed an order directing the hospital to pay the consumer a sum of Rs30,000 for medical expenses and Rs3 lakh as compensation for the death. The Hospital appealed to the state commission, which upheld the lower forum’s order. They then approached the national commission.

The commission noted that this was a case of ‘biliary leak’, which had occurred in the post-operative period. An affidavit filed by Dr RA Shastry of NIMS stated that when the biliary leak had developed, he had mentioned a plan and treatment which was to be followed. But this plan wasn’t followed. Dr Shastry, however, had also stated that the treatment which was given at Rohini Hospital was the standard line of treatment and he found nothing wrong in the case.

The national commission found a contradiction in the statements made by Dr Shastry in his affidavit and his statements on cross-examination. The non-adherence to standard practice was clear proof of medical negligence. The commission confirmed the order of the lower courts.