Jaipur: In a major judgement, the
Rajasthan consumer forum has slapped a fine of Rs 50 lakh on a
city private hospital for negligent treatment of a patient
nearly 14 years ago.
A full bench of the forum reversed the previous order
of the district forum holding that medical negligence should
not be dealt casually by courts and doctors guilty of such
negligence need to be severely punished.
The ruling came in a case that involved a 13-year-old
boy who lost his right hand during treatment resulting in
gangrene. The teenager was admitted to the hospital in 1997
after he had fractured his hand.
Earlier, the district forum had rejected a claim for
compensation as it did not find any fault of the hospital and
doctors in the case.
"Medical profession is termed as a noble profession
and doctors are treated as god... They are bound by the oath
of service to do the best of their ability for the poor and
needy," Justice Ashok Parihar wrote in the judgement.
"In the present case, we find that there had been
lapses on the part of the doctors concerned and the present
case is a clear case of deficiency in service," the judge
remarked.
PTI
First Published: Monday, July 18, 2011, 22:56