Record Rs 1.73 crore payout in medical negligence case

MUMBAI: The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) on Friday ordered that a compensation amount of Rs 1.73 crore should be paid to the US-based husband of a child psychologist who died in Mumbai due to medical negligence. This is perhaps the highest compensation amount ordered by the commission for such negligence, however the three guilty doctors and a hospital, all Kolkata-based, will have to pay only Rs 1.34 crore after reductions ordered by the Supreme Court.
The complainant, Dr Kunal Saha, said he and his wife Anuradha, 36, were of Indian origin and settled in the US. Anuradha was pursuing a PhD in a university there. In April-May 1998, they were holidaying in Kolkata when Anuradha contracted Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis, which the NCDRC termed a "rare and deadly disease". A TEN patient loses the epidermis in layers and the exposed lower skin must be treated like a superficial burn wound. One out of 1.3 million people a year get TEN, the commission observed.
Anuradha showed symptoms of rashes over her body and received treatment as an outdoor patient until May 10, 1998. On May 11, 1998 she was admitted to the Advanced Medicare and Research Institute (AMRI) in Kolkata, where she was treated till May 16, 1998. As her condition didn't improve, she was then shifted to a hospital in Mumbai via an air ambulance. She died on May 28, 1998 following complications from an alleged overdose of steroid that had been administered in Kolkata.
Saha said the doctors and hospitals who treated Anuradha were grossly negligent and deficient in service, which led to her death. He issued legal notices to 26 people demanding compensation. In March 1999, he filed a petition before the NCDRC demanding Rs 77 crore from Dr Sukumar Mukherjee, Dr B Haldar, Dr Balram Prasad, AMRI, Dr Abani Roy Chowdhury (physician), a plastic surgeon and the AMRI directors. He also demanded Rs 25.3 crore from the hospital in Mumbai, but this complaint was later withdrawn. The NCDRC said the claim, totalling Rs 102 crore, was perhaps the highest ever claimed for medical negligence before any consumer forum in India.
The doctors and the hospital denied the allegations and in June 2006 the commission dismissed Saha's complaint. Kunal's brother-in-law had also filed a criminal complaint, but the Kolkata high court acquitted the doctors. Subsequently, appeals were filed in the Supreme Court in both the criminal and civil (consumer commission) cases. While the SC upheld the acquittal of the doctors in the criminal appeal, it decided in favour of Saha in the civil case and sent the matter back to the commission for determination of compensation. The SC ruled Mukherjee, Haldar, Prasad, Chowdhury and AMRI were guilty of medical negligence leading to Anuradha's death.
The commission considered various factors, like compensation for mental agony, costs incurred in litigation and medical expenses, and concluded that the amount payable to Saha was Rs 1.73 crore. However, following SC directives, the commission deducted 10% on account of Saha's interference during Anuradha's treatment. Furthermore, the Rs 25.93 lakh payable by Chowdhury was deducted after the Supreme Court gave its verdict.
While Mukherjee and AMRI, will have to pay Saha Rs 40.4 lakh each, Haldar and Prasad will each have to pay Rs 26.93 lakh. The total amount Saha will receive will be Rs 1.34 crore.
On the compensation amount originally claimed by Saha, the NCDRC said that it appeared that Saha was going by the law and practice prevalent in countries like the US, where the couple was settled. "At the outset, we must hold that this commission cannot take into account the system of award of compensation in other countries and it must necessarily confine the consideration of this question having regard to the law as has been settled by the Supreme Court through catena (series) of decisions and which is in vogue in our jurisdiction and has stood the test of time," the commission said.