Shubham, a seven year old boy, was taken to Dr. Jangid with complain of stomach ache. Surprisingly, without arriving at a proper diagnosis, the doctor administered an intramuscular injection in the boy’s left gluteal region and prescribed some medicines.
This act was the beginning of young boy’s misfortune. The intramuscular injection caused numbness in his left leg and his worried father rushed him to hospital where a neurosurgeon conducted nerve conduction velocity test which reported left tibial axonopathy. Shubham’s left leg was permanently disabled!
The furious father sued the doctor and alleged that he neither diagnosed his son properly before administering the injection nor investigated any possibility of an adverse reaction.
Dr. Jangid, stated that he was a government appointed doctor and hence no consultation fee was charged from the patient.
The Commission perused medical records from the hospital where the young patient was diagnosed with left tibial axonopathy. It was observed that while Dr. Jangid’s prescription slips didn’t mention administration of an injection, there was a noting of prescribed medicines. The doctor could not give any reason why the medicines were prescribed. Moreover, the patient’s condition deteriorated immediately after he visited Dr. Jangid and hence the Commission drew an inference that it cannot be presumed Dr. Jangid had not prescribed any injection.
Moreover, the Commission rejected the doctor’s claim that no fee was charged on the ground that a government doctor cannot use his own letterhead and the medicines were prescribed on doctor’s personal letterhead.
Dr. Jangid was held negligent and was ordered to pay more than two lakh rupees as compensation.
Source: Order pronounced by National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, New Delhi on 11th April, 2019.