Bengaluru: Mariam Kouser's kin rejects compensation

BENGALURU: For the past five years, little Mariam Kouser has lived with little hope of one day leading a normal life. Now, the family of this medical negligence victim has rejected the Rs 2 lakh compensation paid by the Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Trauma and Orthopedics (SGITO).
While the 2016 order of the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) stated that the government must give Rs 2 lakh to the family, the authorities at SGITO issued a cheque to the family in November 2019.
Mariam was operated at SGITO in December 2013 for a hand fracture that went horribly wrong with anaesthesia overdose, leading to hypoxic brain damage.
On receiving the cheque, Mariam's father Mudassir Pasha recently checked with SHRC about the cheque. He had to file an RTI application in January 2020 to ascertain details of the order. "We have spent over Rs 50 lakh for medicines and treatment. We even had to sell our house in Bengaluru and currently stay in Hoskote. How will this Rs 2 lakh help us? Why give us a pittance now?" he said.
The SHRC had taken up a suo motu case in 2014 after seeing media reports about her brain damage. The order clearly mentions that Mariam's medical file had no recording of her weight, which is critical as the anaesthesia dose is calculated based on weight. The order further mentions the lapses of hospital's authorities in pre-anaesthetic assessment. The order also sought for an action taken report by the hospital against doctors involved in the surgery.
However, when contacted, Indumathi Devi, finance office, in-charge chief administrative officer, SGITO said the amount was released only after the government gave its approval.
Dr HS Chandrashekar, director, SGITO, said two doctors were suspended after the government inquiry report in 2014. "One of the anaesthetists who was first accused in the case has retired. Another orthopaedic whose name had cropped up in the case continues to work," he said.
SHRC order
The SHRC order, a copy of which is with STOI, reads: "It is not a si mple lack of care, an error of judgement, because of the finding of the enquiry officers that the doctors had not maintained the records properly.. The commission finds no reason to disbelieve the report submitted by the enquiry committee holding four of the doctors involved in the case responsible for the girl's comatose condition."