Kolkata hospital fined Rs 1.25 crore for doctor death in 2014 – Times of India

KOLKATA: The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has directed the Kothari Medical Centre on Friday to pay a compensation of Rs 1.25 crore to the husband of Arunima Sen, who died during a ‘dilation and curettage with laparoscopic dye test’ procedure on March 5, 2014. She was 31 and was working as a doctor herself at the Dr B C Roy hospital when she died.
Arunima suffered from dysmenorrhea – pelvic pain during menses – and was later found to be suffering from polycystic ovarian disease along with benign tumours of the uterus. She first came for her treatment on February 4, 2012, and in the initial phase, she was reluctant to undergo the dye test. However, later she agreed to do the procedure as the doctors suggested it. While the procedure was near completion, she suffered cardiac arrest, her oxygen saturation and blood pressure level dropped and even though a cardiologist had given cardiac electrical stimulation, she died, according to the submission of the hospital authority.
The hospital had told the Commission that the patient expired due to sudden cardiac arrest. The emergency team attended her at the OT during the procedure and she was shifted to ICCU, where she suffered massive cardiac arrest and despite all the efforts of the doctors she did not survive – it was a cardio-respiratory failure. Therefore, the hospital said, such a mishap was not medical negligence. He also pleaded that only due to this mishap, the patient’s husband cannot ask for such a huge compensation. West Bengal Medical Council in its report had stated that the doctors involved in the case were not negligent based on their expert committee report.
Arunima’s husband Somraj Sen, who had levelled negligence charges against the doctors, said, “I am unhappy with the order of the NCDRC. No doctor had been punished for the death. How can only the hospital be responsible, as doctors were exonerated.” Sen had initially pleaded for a compensation of Rs 50 crore, as Arunima was a young doctor who was in government service. Sen also said the doctors doing the procedure lacked skill and did not take proper precautions for her allergic reactions. Sen also alleged that after Arunima’s death, she was taken to ICCU to give a false impression of continuing treatment. Sen’s counsel Shiv Shankar Banerjee said it was a fit case for appeal in Supreme Court.
Kothari Medical Centre did not issue any formal statement on it.
The NCDRC’s order said: “There is no straight jacketed formula for the award of compensation, it is difficult to quantify the value of human life in monetary terms, but considering the facts and circumstances, to meet the ends of justice, lump sum compensation of Rs 1.25 crore appears to be just and adequate and hospital shall pay it within six weeks, failing which an interest at Rs 9% per annum is to be paid till its realisation .” Moreover, the hospital shall pay Rs 2 lakh as cost of litigation to Sen. It also asked the state to inspect if the hospital is following all statutory norms.
Dr Kunal Saha, an activist, has demanded action against the doctors.