A Case onMedical Negligence

Presentation by: Deep Shah

Submitted to: Sir Rajarshri Dasgupta

Introduction

GURGAON: Gurgaon police have booked a former doctor of the city's Max hospital, Sarvar Iqbal, for his alleged negligence which led to the death of 36-year-old Dharmendra Sharma last year at the hospital. The case was filed against the doctor after the district civil surgeon analysed the reports and held Iqbal guilty of negligence.

The complainant, Mahesh Sharma, brother of victim Dharmendra Sharma, claimed his brother was admitted to the hospital for a simple kidney stone removal operation. The case, however, got complicated due to the doctor's negligence.  

Statement to Police

Mahesh: "My brother, who used to live in Sector 17, was fine. He himself

drove to the hospital on April 5 for his operation.

It was a simple kidney stone removal surgery. However, he developed complications immediately after the surgery.

Thereafter, he had to go through many surgeries and remained in the ICU for over 76 days and ultimately died there".

Statement to TOI

"After his kidney stone removal operation on April 5, he developed complications in the form of bleeding and was shifted to the ICU on April 6.

He was again operated upon on April 7.

As his left kidney was removed after a surgery and he had multiple blood transfusions, his condition deteriorated.

On May 9, we were shocked to know that he had contracted some infection during the operation.

Doctors told us that there was pus in his intestine and part of his intestine needed to be removed.

He was operated upon thrice after that and kept on ventilator support." 

He died on June 20 last year. 

"My father went into depression after the death of Dharmendra. Our father also passed away last month," said Mahesh.

Inquiry Report

The inquiry report (a copy of which is with TOI) said, "Bleeding after PCNL (Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy) led to complication in the case.

An early intervention at the time of detection of first complication could have altered the outcome in this case. Ultimately patient died due to a series of complications." 

"My brother remained in the ICU for 76 days. Doctors didn't allow us to see him in the ICU. We then lodged a police complaint after which a panel of doctors reviewed hospital records and found that it was the doctor's negligence which led to infection and death," said Mahesh. 

Steps Taken

"An FIR has been registered against the doctor.

The doctor had left the hospital about seven months ago.

We are investigating the case," said Ashok Kumar, SHO, Sector 29 police station. 

A spokesperson for Max Hospital said, "We have not received any information about an FIR against the doctor, hence cannot comment on the case."

Result

Article published on 13th September, TOI

Which says…

“A former doctor of Max in Gurgaon, an accused in a case of alleged medical negligence, was ‘granted bail’ by the court of the chief judicial magistrate on Friday.

City-based urologist Dr. Sarvar Iqbal had been accused of botching up a kidney stone-removal surgery which led to the death of 36-year-old Dharmendra Sharma last year”.

Dr. Iqbal's lawyer said…

Dr Iqbal was reportedly absconding after an FIR was filed against him. On Friday, he surrendered before the court.

After getting bail, Dr Iqbal's lawyer Ashwini Kumar said, "We took the defence that the patient died because of his own negligence and not the carelessness of one doctor. He stayed in the hospital for 76 days and 12 surgeries were performed on him. Then, what was the purpose of singling out this doctor and filing an FIR against him? This convinced the court which granted the bail.“

Kumar added, "When the patient approached the doctor, his stone was 12mm wide which grew to 32mm as he didn't turn up again for next three months. This made his condition critical. The death happened because of the delay in treatment but the hospital or doctor didn't cause the delay," he said.

Max had said Dr Iqbal left the hospital nine months back.

And Mahesh said…

"No one told us that the doctor appeared before the

court"

India 2013

Article was published on December 15, 2013 TOI.

It says…

“Recently, the parliamentary committee on health and family welfare expressed concern over the fact that there is negligible prosecution of medical negligence cases in India”.

“But the committee's observation draws attention to an even more shocking fact that there is no centralised collection of data on negligence cases filed in India or their outcome”.

India 2013

People for Better Treatment

According to People for Better Treatment (PBT), which was started by Dr. Kunal Saha (he recently won the record settlement of over Rs 6 crore by the Supreme Court for the death of his wife due to medical negligence), hardly any doctors are found guilty by state medical councils.

For instance, PBT's RTI enquiry found that just 515 cases were filed against doctors for either medical negligence or ethical violation in one decade (2001-10), barely four cases a month.

And action was taken in just 9% — 15 doctors were removed from the council's list of registered practitioners and 30 let off with a warning.

In 91% of cases, either the case was closed or the accused let off.

References

http://www.timesofindia.com/india/

Doctor booked for negligence at Max hospital last year

TNN | Sep 6, 2014, 03.28AM IST

Negligence case: Gurgaon doctor surrenders

TNN | Sep 13, 2014, 03.59AM IST

Clean slate for doctors on medical negligence?

Rema Nagarajan,TNN | Dec 15, 2013, 06.46AM IST

“Let us not seek the Republican or Democratic answer, but right answer.Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past.Let us accept our own responsibility for the future”. -John F.

Kennedy Thank You.