Max Hospital Asked To Pay Rs 30 Lakh To Child, Parents For Medical Negligence

The Delhi State Consumer Commission has asked Max Hospital in Pitampura, Delhi to pay Rs 30 lakh to the parents of a child for medical negligence. The hospital has to pay the money to a 10-year-old boy and his parents for medical negligence that led to a permanent abnormality in the boy’s left arm. “This may serve the purpose of bringing about a qualitative change in the attitude of the hospitals providing service to the human beings,” the commision stated.

The commission said that this would bring a qualitative change in the attitude of the hospitals to provide quality service. It directed a compensation of Rs 20 lakh to Ritesh Kumar Garg and Aarti Garg and their son Kush Garg. The hospital was also asked to pay Rs 5 lakh to the mother as the incidental expense and Rs 5 lakh to the parents as the litigation cost.

“Human touch is necessary; that is their code of conduct; that is their duty, and that is what is required to be implemented,” said O P Gupta, a commision member. “The negligence on the part of the hospital is writ large of the face and is established”, the commission stated.

The complaint by the parents of the boy alleged that the abnormality in their child’s arm was due to crude and violent pulling off the newborn baby, reports The Times of India.

The incident

The incident occurred in 2007, when Aarti, the boy’s mother was admitted to the hospital for delivery. It was a normal delivery, and no complications were reported. But a few days after, they discovered abnormality termed as ‘shoulder dystocia’ in his left arm. The parents have submitted the reports of diagnostic centres and other hospitals to validate their complaint.

Hospital’s response

Max hospital has denied all the allegations telling they took every care during the delivery. “We have also noticed several inconsistencies in the order as material facts of the case and the opinion of the medical board of RML have not been considered by the state commission. We reiterate that we have taken utmost care in the delivery of the baby. We will appeal against the ruling in the National Commission,” the hospital told Times of India.