Court appalled at hospital’s lack of critical care protocol

Sunil’s child was diagnosed with Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA), a congestive heart ailment. The worried father approached St. Stephens Hospital where the doctors advised and performed PDA coiling.

One of the coil was dislodged and moved into lung’s artery during the surgery. The child was shifted to ICU where after four hours and it was observed that his right leg was turning cold. Surprisingly, the child was examined only at 8 AM. A venous Doppler test was performed which confirmed that there was no arterial flow, and there was a blood clot!

The doctors performed another surgery to remove the clot. But the child’s condition didn’t improve even after second attempt. Doctors suggested that the boy be taken to a higher centre for better management.

The father took the child to another hospital where his right leg below knee amputated and an open closure of PDA was also performed.

The father sued the hospital and presented facts of the case to of Delhi Sate Consumer Commission.

Hospital authorities surprisingly stated that the usual protocol is to wait for twenty four hours before performing an intervention to remove a clot as it could have caused more harm to the child. The Commission observed otherwise as it stated the following:

“Major concern in this case is the time factor within which the required treatment was not available. The doctors did not have this minimal medical knowledge about the thrombus formation and the consequences of treating it”.

“The patient was attended to approximately eight hours after initial surgery, by which time condition of the right leg had compromised. If maximum care means lapse of eight hours, what would be meant by ordinary care?”

St. Stephens Hospital and its doctors were ordered to dole out twenty lakh rupees compensation – a fine that perhaps has made them more aware about critical care protocol.