IMPORTANT POINT
Hospital is responsible for act of whole staff including doctors and nurses.

Sunil Kumar Garg, President— This complaint under Section 12 of the CP Act, 1986, has been filed by the complainant against opposite parties before this Commission on 19.12.96 with a prayer that since the child of the complainant was born in the Hospital of opposite party No.2 and was under the treatment of opposite party No.1 and since he was not treated well by opposite parties when he remained admitted in their Hospital and because of medical negligence on their part, the child became disable permanently and for that a sum of Rs.18,00,000 and other charges were claimed as amount of compensation from the opposite parties.

2. The necessary facts may be summarised as follows:

That the wife of the complainant Smt. Kaushalya was pregnant and she was got registered for delivery in the Hospital of opposite party No.2 in the year 1993 and the registration number was 2064/93 and she was under the treatment of opposite party No.1 a Gynaecologist; thereafter when her delivery had become due on 17.1.94 and when she felt pain on 17.1.94 and, therefore, she was got admitted in the Hospital of opposite party No.2 where she had delivered a male child on 17.1.94 at 10.40 p.m. and at the time of delivery the weight of that child was 3 kgs. It was further stated in the complaint that the wife of the complainant Smt. Kaushalya and her child both were discharged from the Hospital of opposite party No.2 on 21.1.94 and as per the case of the opposite parties both were O.K. It was further stated in the complaint that as soon as the child came to the house after the discharge from the Hospital of opposite party No.2, the child was suffering from convulsion and mild fever and he was a patient of jaundice and intensity of the jaundice was so high and it had spread in the mind of the child and when she contacted again the Hospital of opposite party No.2, they told the complainant that their duty was only to deliver the child and if child was having some complications, for that child specialist should be got consulted and thereafter on 22.1.94 the child was got admitted in the J.K. Lon Hospital, Jaipur and the child was discharged on 1.2.94 and as per the record of J.K. Lon Hospital, Jaipur marked Annexure 2 the child was suffering from severe jaundice neonatal hepatitis up to sole, ABO incompatibility/kenicterus stage-II.

It was further stated in the complaint that the child was suffering from jaundice after the birth and since no treatment was given by opposite parties after birth, therefore, there was medical negligence on their part and had the treatment would have been given to the child by the opposite party No. 1, the disease of jaundice could have been controlled but since no treatment was given to the child up to 22.1.94, the disease of jaundice had spread in the mind and because of that negligence the level of bilirubin had crossed 18 mg. and because of that the disease of kernicterus had appeared as a result of which the child became disable and on 9.12.96 the Medical Officer of the Primary Health Centre, Chandwaji had given a certificate of the fact that the disability which was found in the child could not be cured and thus for that deficiency the present complaint was filed making a case of medical negligence on the part of opposite party Nos. 1 and 2.

A reply was filed by opposite party Nos. 1 and 2 on 19.5.97 before this Commission and their case was that the complainant had fabricated the document as the child and mother both were discharged from their Hospital on 20.1.94 and not on21.1.94 and that could be found proved from the record of the Hospital Annexure R1 a indoor ticket and further from an application Annexure R2 signed by the complainant himself in which it was stated that the mother and child both were discharged from the Hospital on 20.1.94, therefore, from the Hospital record as well as from the application signed by the complainant, the fact that the mother and child both were discharged from the Hospital of o