Hospital fined after doctor fails to spot rib and leg fractures

Ahmedabad: A consumer court has fined a city-based hospital because its doctor was unable to spot fractures suffered by an accident victim and discharged him after two hours in hospital. With pain failing to subside even after taking prescribed medicines for a week, the patient went to an orthopaedic who spotted the fractures.

The Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum, Ahmedabad (rural) has ordered The Sanjivani Super Speciality Hospital Pvt Ltd in Vastrapur to pay Rs 5,000 with 8% interest to the consumer Chardrapakash Parvani. This happened after Parvani, a resident of Vastrapur, filed a complaint of negligence on part of the doctor working in the hospital when he met with an accident.

According to case details, a car hit Parvani when he was crossing the road near IIM-A on January 24, 2012. He was rushed to Sanjivani hospital in an ambulance, where Dr Amit Agrawal treated him. After examining his x-ray, the doctor said that Parvani had not suffered any grave injuries. He gave him discharge from the hospital within two hours and prescribed him medicines.

The complainant took the medicines and rested for a week, but his pain did not die down. A week later, he consulted an orthopaedic, Dr Bharat Mirani, who spotted fractures in Parvani’s ribs and right leg.

A year later, Parvani sued Sanjivani hospital for Rs 50,000 for the pain that he suffered for a week. He contended that had Dr Agrawal taken proper notice of his injuries and treated him well, he could have avoided the needless suffering.

On Parvani’s complaint, the consumer court issued notice to the hospital and sought its reply, but none appeared on behalf of the hospital authorities.

Four years later, the court decided to hear the complaint in absence of the opposite party. The court said, “Looking at the evidence, there appears that the complainant suffered a fracture, but the hospital did not take notice of it and advised him treatment for the same. It can be believed that had Dr Agrawal given proper treatment for the fracture after examination, the complainant would not have suffered unnecessary pain.”

The consumer court also ordered the hospital to pay Rs 2,000 to the complainant towards legal expenditure.