IMPORTANT POINTS
Medical negligence—Death of a young promising Lawyer— in such a case for choosing multiplier, age of deceased and not that of mother would have to be taken into consideration Compensation of Rs.10,00,000/- awarded to mother of deceased.

ORDER

Akil Kureshi, CJ.—Applicants have prayed for directions to pay interim compensation of Rs.15,00,000/- to the mother of deceased Bhaskar Debroy pending further consideration of the public interest petition.

2. Briefly stated the facts are as under :

Bhaskar Debroy was an advocate. He joined the bar in the year 2015. His father had died when he was young. He was the only child of his widowed mother. At late night on 6th March, 2020 it appears that Bhaskar Debroy had accidental injuries while he was travelling on his motorcycle. The personnel of Fire Brigade department helped shift injured Bhaskar Debroy to AGMC & GBP Hospital late at night. By all accounts it appears that when the patient was brought to the hospital he was still conscious and coherent. While under treatment, his condition deteriorated and at around 3.20 a.m. on 7th March, 2020 he was declared dead.

3. The public interest petition is filed by an individual claiming to be involved in social service in the locality. In the petition, he has sought to project the inaction and negligence on part of the doctors and hospital administration which according to him, led to the unfortunate pre-mature death of a young promising lawyer who was the sole source of financial and emotion support for the widowed mother. Prayers made in this PIL include those for conducting a detail inquiry into the allegations of medical negligence, formation of a special investigation team for investigating into a complaint of commission of offence under Section 304 Part II read with Section 34 of IPC and for payment of compensation of Rs.50,00,000/- to the dependents of the deceased. By way of the interim application, prayer is made for payment of interim compensation to the mother of the deceased.

4. The petitioner has relied on statements of members of the public present in the hospital when the deceased was brought there and certain other official documents. On the basis of such materials, the averments made in the petition in a nutshell are as under:

(i) On 7th March, 2020 the petitioner got information that advocate Bhaskar Debroy who was brought to AGMC & GBP Hospital had died late at night. The petitioner, therefore, rushed to the hospital at about 8.30 in the morning. The petitioner had access to the room where the dead body of Bhaskar Debroy was kept and found that he still was wearing his full clothes with belt and shoes on.

(ii) Examination of medical record of the deceased showed that at 12.59 on 7th March, 2020 condition of the patient was recorded to be conscious, drowsy but oriented with the history of alcohol consumption. At 1.15 a.m. his condition was recorded as semi-conscious, drowsy and oriented.

(iii) The patient was referred to G.B.P Emergency for further management but this was not followed up. Instead, he was taken to Medicine Unit where the attending doctor advised certain tests such as CVC, KFT, LFT, ECG etc. at 2.10 a.m.

(iv) At 3.00 a.m. his BP recorded was 80/60. At 3.10 a.m. it was noted that BP was not recordable. At 3.20 a.m. he was declared dead.

(v) According to the petitioner, Bhaskar Debroy was carrying a smart phone. Further, despite his conscious condition and availability of his phone no relatives were informed about the accident. He was carrying an identity card issued by the Bar Council of Tripura from which also the details of his family members could have been traced.

(vi) The petitioner has pointed out that an FIR has been registered for commission of offence under Section 304 Part II IPC with the intervention of the Superintendent of Police, West Tripura.

(vii) According to the petitioner, at the said hospital after 5.00 p.m. no specialist doctors are available and the Trauma Centre, Emergency Unit and other wards of the hospital are managed by PG medical students. As a result, Bhaskar Debroy was not attended by any specialist doctor which led to his tragic death.

(viii) The petitioner has referred to the Death Audit Report