Bengaluru: Fifteen years after a woman died of advanced liver disease, the Karnataka State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission held that a doctor working in an Udupi hospital was guilty of negligence as she had referred her to a dermatologist instead of a gastroenterologist or hematologist.
The court directed Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Ltd, which had insured the doctor and the hospital against professional negligence, to pay the bereaved family Rs 10 lakh as compensation.
Geetha K, wife of Hyderabad-based businessman Harishchandra K, 62, had visited Dr TMA Pai Hospital in Udupi in May 2006 with menopause symptoms. Despite test results indicating liver issues, Dr Seema Shetty, a general physician at the hospital, referred her to a dermatologist. Geetha's condition worsened and she was eventually diagnosed with primary biliary cirrhosis. However, by this time it was too late for a liver transplant. Geetha passed away in Aug 2009 at a Hyderabad hospital.
Geetha's husband and her two sons filed a complaint with the consumer court, alleging that negligence by Dr Shetty and the Udupi hospital had directly led to Geetha's premature death. They claimed right and timely intervention, based on early test results, could have prevented her death.
The hospital defended itself by stating that the patient didn't return as directed for renal failure treatment. Her test reports showed elevated liver enzymes, which can't be seen as the sole indicator of liver diseases as there are other causes and factors.
After examining all the documents, the consumer court held on Sept 9 this year that Dr Shetty was guilty of professional negligence as she had failed to address the abnormal liver enzyme levels and had erred in referring the patient to a dermatologist instead of a gastroenterologist/hematologist.
Faulting the doctor for noting the test results as ‘within normal limits' though they were higher than the normal range, the consumer forum held that because of her negligence, the patient's liver disease advanced, leading to her death. "If the liver disease had been detected at the earliest point of time, the patient would have had the liberty to receive appropriate treatment, including a liver transplantation, and would have lived a longer and healthier life," the judges added.
The commission ordered the insurer to pay Rs 10 lakh in compensation to the family, and Dr Pai Hospital and Dr Shetty to pay Rs 25,000 towards litigation costs.