Possibility of a serious ailment can sink even the strongest of hearts. All hell breaks loose if the suspected ailment is cancer. It can drive a patient to despair and even depravity, as this case exemplifies.
Sensing something amiss for a long time, B. Malathi approached a doctor with complain of pain in uterus. The doctor advised a biopsy which was performed at the diagnostic center. The report shook B. Malathi, it seemed to her that the ground was pulled from beneath her feet. The biopsy test reported possibility of cancer.
B. Malathi rushed to another diagnostic centre at a reputed hospital. After a battery of tests, the second diagnostic centre reported ‘no cancer’.
She sued the first diagnostic centre and alleged that wrong cancer report gave her sleepless nights and she had to spend lot of time and money as well at the second diagnostic centre.
The Commission observed that the possibility of cancer was only a preliminary opinion expressed by the doctor – verbally and in writing – and in clear words he had mentioned ‘to be correlated clinically’ in the report.
B. Malathi’s probably understood the correlation between her impatience and dismissal of complain by the Commission.
Source: Order pronounced by Andhra Pradesh Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, on 6th December, 2019.