IA/546/2024

Heard learned Counsel for the Appellant. Sufficient cause has been shown to condone the delay. The delay condonation application is allowed.

APPEAL

1. Mr. Nikhil Jain has advanced his submissions and also placed before us a copy of the document dated 15.08.2018 which has already been referred to in the Impugned Order, and has urged that in this case of medical negligence the State Commission has failed to appreciate the evidence on record and therefore has arrived at an incorrect conclusion. The contention raised by Mr. Nikhil Jain is that the Complainant who was a senior citizen and had been suffering from respiratory problems was incorrectly subjected to a treatment by the Respondent / Hospital and its doctors for diseases from which he was not suffering. An error of diagnosis as well as incorrect treatment was alleged.
2. We have perused the documents on record as also the Impugned order in detail with the help of the documents that have been relied on by the learned Counsel for the Appellant. The State Commission in Paragraph No. 6 and 7 of the Impugned Order has recorded as follows:
3. 6.     The statement of the Complainant in this case is that the opposite hospital has treated those diseases which he does not actually have, but no medical expert’s report has been presented in this regard, so that it can be clear that the complainant was not suffering from the said diseases. A perusal of the initial assessment record dated 13.01.2018 of the complainant reveals that he was initially diagnosed with CADC as well as HTN POST PTCA and Asthma along with shortness of breath. The full form of PTCA is Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty, from which it is clear that the complainant had undergone angioplasty in the past, after which the above problem and asthma occurred. The complainant has not disproved this diagnosis from any expert.

7.       In addition to the above, the complainant has alleged wrong and inflated bills. In each hospital, the doctors’ fees and the nursing care fees are different, for which there is no set criteria as to how much nursing fees should be taken and how much should not be taken. There is no proof of medical negligence and deficiency in treatment on the part of the complainant, which is necessary to get compensation from the hospital or the doctors.”  

3. We have examined the facts on record and we do not find any element of medical negligence or deficiency in diagnosing and treating the Petitioner who had previously undergone angioplasty. The diagnosis on this count could not be controverted by any evidence led by the Appellant. The treatment charges as alleged being excessive cannot be a matter of scrutiny in the absence of any evidence or any such obligation on the hospital not to charge a particular amount for the pathological tests or any such treatment given to the Appellant. In the absence of any such material we find that the State Commission has rightly found that there was neither any discrepancy, negligence or deficiency in the treatment given to the Appellant nor the payments as demanded were without any basis. The appellant was not forced to undergo the treatment and was rather treated by the doctors of the hospital whereafter the Complainant / Appellant does not appear to be suffering from any health problems.
4. Learned Counsel urged that the Chief Medical Officer in his recommendations dated 15.08.2018 had opined for an audit of the bills regarding payment of certain tests. In our considered opinion a mere suggestion to that effect from an officer does not in any way convey the existence of any deficiency by itself.
5. The facts with regard to the diagnosis and the treatment have all been discussed in detail by the State Commission that demonstrate that in effect the Petitioner had been treated to the best of the abilities of the attending doctors and there was neither any deficiency nor professional negligence reflected so as to construe any element of medical negligence.

6. The arguments advanced therefore have no merits. The Appeal is therefore dismissed.