The rate at which patients / attendants are suing healthcare providers is steadily rising. And with it, the kind of allegations levelled against them is also getting bizarre.
The patient was taken to hospital with complains of chest pain. ECG confirmed myocardial infraction. The cardiologist first performed angiography and subsequently angioplasty procedure, and stented left and right arteries. However, the patient died few hours later.
The cardiologist was blamed by patient’s family for their unfortunate loss. Their alleged that the doctor did not follow proper treatment protocol. But their main contention was that the hospital did not provide CD of the angiography procedure.
The Commission perused medical records and rejected family’s allegations. It was observed that the treatment was well within accepted protocol. The Commission termed allegation of not providing CD as “bald”, and observed that two CDs were handed over to patient’s brother. However, the computer’s storage capacity was 36,000 images and hence, some part of the procedure images could not be saved as the memory was exhausted.
The allegations against cardiologist and hospital were dismissed. Hospital administrators should take a learning from this case and invest in better and robust IT infrastructure to avoid such incidences.
Source: Order pronounced by National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission on 23rd November, 2021.
