Suffering from abdominal pain, Abhijeet visited Dr. Bina who performed an Ultrasound of the whole abdomen that reported contracted gall bladder with cholelithiasis. A surgery was performed by the doctor during which it was revealed that the gall bladder was congenitally absent!
Abhijeet misconstrued this as medical negligence and sued the doctor.
The Commission observed from medical records that the doctor had categorically mentioned in the initial diagnosis report ‘Ultrasound diagnosis alone is not confirmatory’. Relying on medical literature, the Commission further observed that congenital absence of gall bladder is rare but recognized condition, and that can be misinterpreted as cholecystitis.
The Commission rejected Abhijeet’s plea and ruled in favour of Dr. Bina on two grounds – pre-operative imaging techniques can miss detecting congenital absence of gall bladder and the doctor had ‘asserted’ in her report that ‘Ultrasound diagnosis alone is not confirmatory’.
Source: Order pronounced by Assam State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission on 24th October, 2019.