Papers of complainant in medical negligence case go missing 3 days before hearing

Shreya Nimonkar, who has been fighting for justice for years in a case of alleged medical negligence, got the shock of her life when her advocate found nearly 35 important documents from her file missing from the consumer court three days before her hearing on April 1.

“Our advocate went last week to inspect the documents submitted in court and check the pages of our submitted documents. But she found that a few of the documents from the file were missing,” said Ms Nimonkar. Relying upon two expert doctors’ affidavits, they had filed two copies before the forum but in the court’s record, one affidavit from each set was missing.

“We don’t know who is responsible but it must be someone from inside the court. We have complained to the registrar and will also inform the judge in the next proceedings,” said Ms Nimonkar’s lawyer, Pooja Deshpande.

They came to know about the missing documents on March 28, just three days before the court hearing. However, on April 1, the board got discharged before Ms Nimonkar’s case was called. “The board was discharged after hearing eight cases, and we were ninth on the list. Thankfully, we will have ample time to submit all documents in detail,” said Ms Nimonkar.

Ms Nimonkar (43) was suffering from irregular menses when her gynaecologist asked her to get her uterus removed in a surgical procedure called hysterectomy. When she asked to delay the surgery, the doctor warned her that she might suffer from cancer. However the surgery was badly botched up so much so that till a few days ago, Ms Nimonkar’s entire body was swollen and later, her urinary system got infected and both her kidneys failed.