This is perhaps one of those many cases where patients commonly indulge in self-treatment and do not heed to doctor’s advice. Diligently recording such facts is a doctor’s best defence.
The patient was regularly consulting her general physician for giddiness, vertigo and other complains.
During one of the consultations, the patient complained of oliguria. The doctor advised renal function test. The test reported severe renal ailments.
The patient was referred to a hospital where she unfortunately died the next day.
Her husband was apparently distraught. And unfortunately, he made the doctor a victim of his loss by suing him. It was alleged that the doctor delayed in advising appropriate tests to rule out renal complications, despite consulting him more than twenty-five times over a period of year or more.
The doctor was perhaps aghast at this allegation. He presented well-prepared and well-maintained prescriptions and stated that the patient was not regular with follow ups, did not heed to his advice, and complained of oliguria only once.
During one of the consultations, patient was advised to consult an orthopedician and perform some tests, but did not do so. She indulged in self-treatment, and was popping antibiotics at her own volition.
The Commission accepted doctor’s defence and observed that:
“The medical prescription shows that the patient was not regular in her follow-up. She or her husband did not complain of Oliguria. From the standard medical literature, it is known that if patient is taking pain killer medicines continuously for two to three years, it causes renal damage. It is evident that the patient was diagnosed as positive for rheumatoid arthritis, and was taking pain killers without proper follow-up. She did not consult the orthopedician for her joint pains. Therefore, the treatment given by the general physician cannot be faulted”.
Source : Order pronounced by National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission on 1st December, 2022.