Amputee gets verdict, but no justice

After fighting for 13 years, Raghavendra Rao, 39, won the first battle of his medical negligence case when the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission held the accused doctor accountable of not taking proper consent before conducting the surgery.

A fine of Rs 25,000 was imposed on the doctor that was supposed to be handed over to the victim but even after a year has passed since the incident, the victim is yet to receive the amount.

The patient has now approached the apex court to get justice. Finally, after struggling for 13 years, the Commission held the doctor “faulty for not taking proper consent before the operation”, stated the order that is in possession with The Asian Age. And an imposition of Rs 25,000 was imposed on the doctor that has not been paid yet.

“I have to take care of my family and my son’s treatment only on my pension, which amounts to Rs 15,000. I have spent almost Rs 8 lakhs in these 13 years for his treatment,” said Mr Rao’s mother, Kamala Rao, 60, who is a retired schoolteacher.

“But the accused doctor does not even want to pay Rs 25,000 despite the order. If we want to get the money, we will have to spend another Rs 50,000 for it,” she said. Mr Rao was born with a complex birth defect of the spinal cord —Spina Bifida because of which he couldn’t walk without crutches and had incontinence in passing urine and stool.

In 2002, when he was a 25-year-old, his family took him to a well-known pediatric hospital at Parel for medical consultation as it was a childhood-related problem. Upon the doctor’s recommendation, he was operated upon. The negligence in operation allegedly led to the amputation of his left leg.

“Once the operation was completed, I complained of loss of sensation below the knee in both my legs. After repeated complaints, the doctor called a child neurologist for advice who recommended calling an adult neurologist from KEM Hospital,” said Ms Rao.

“I was admitted at the hospital for 25 days but neither the doctor came nor were the required tests conducted,” she added. Later, Rao’s family doctor, following medical investigation discovered that he had lumber puncture for spinal analgesia, the nerves in spinal cord were damaged.

Since this discovery, the family had been running from pillar to post for justice.

When they approached the Human Rights Commission, they approved him the daily medical report from the hospital that highlighted that several pre-and post medical examination have been ignored.

“The doctor had asked to do sonography in the report but it was never done as the machine was meant only for pediatric,” said Ms Rao.

With the help of these reports, they approached Maharashtra State Consumer Forum but it rejected it appeal.

They then approached National Consumer Forum. To continue their fight for justice, they also filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court. “But just within 30 seconds, the case was disposed of.

How do they expect a case that has been pending for 13 years to be explained in 30 secs ” asked Ms Rao.

Despite repeated attempts to contact the doctor, he was unreachable.