Nineteen years after a baby girl was born blind due to medical negligence of a Government hospital in Chennai, the Supreme Court on Wednesday awarded her an unprecedented compensation of Rs1.72 crore. The significant decision that laid down a new precedent in grant of compensation for medical negligence was pronounced by a Bench of Justices JS Khehar and SA Bobde.
The court directed the compensation to be paid by the Tamil Nadu Government along with the Government Hospital for Women and Children and the two doctors whose inaction resulted in the premature birth of newborn girl with congenital blindness.
The blindness resulted due to negligence during a Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) surgery at a Government hospital in Chennai in 1996. Every hospital or doctor is bound by law to examine each premature newborn baby for ROP within two to four weeks of the birth. Having failed to perform this mandatory screening, ROP, which is otherwise curable, became Grade V in the present case leading to complete loss of vision in both eyes.
The parents of the girl who incurred medical cost of Rs31 lakh even took their daughter to the US for performing critical surgery but to no avail. Having run from pillar to post, victim’s father V Krishnakumar decided to approach the National Consumer Commission and partially won the case by proving medical negligence against the hospital and doctors. But the Commission awarded a sum of Rs5 lakh as compensation.
Seeking enhancement, the girl’s family approached the Supreme Court to enhance the compensation in view of the medical costs incurred and for her future care and sustenance.
It even referred to a 2009 decision of the apex court where a compensation of Rs 1 crore was awarded after a man suffered paraplegia following negligence committed by Hyderabad-based Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences.
Although the Tamil Nadu Government on behalf of the hospital claimed there was no negligence on its part, the SC drew strength from the report of a team of doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences submitted before the National Commission which held the hospital and doctors guilty. The report cited guidelines requiring every hospital/doctor to conduct mandatory check of ROP in premature newborn babies. In the present case, the child was born on August 30, 1996 and both mother and child were discharged after 24 days, sufficient time to be examined for ROP.
Out of the total compensation, the SC awarded Rs 42 lakh towards medical expenses and allotted the remaining sum of Rs 1.38 crore for proper care and sustenance of the young girl, who completes 19 years this year.