A medical practitioner must adhere to recognized standards of care, especially in emergencies, and the burden lies on the complainant to prove negligence.

PER DR. S. M. KANTIKAR, MEMBER

Brief facts of the case are that the daughter of the Complainant, Kumari Akansha Sharma (hereinafter referred to as the “patient”) aged about 23 years was suffering from upper respiratory catarrh, fever, body ache, chills, and passing scanty loose stools for some days. On 25.10.2014 she was admitted in (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Opposite Party No. 1’) and was treated by various doctors but did not show any improvement and her condition further deteriorated. On 28.10.2014, blood report revealed Leukopenia (less WBC) and Dengue NS1 antigen positive. The blood culture report was awaited. On the same day at around 11pm, the patient complained of chills and rigor, but she was conscious. The doctor administered Avil-1 and Dexa-1ml, but no relief. It was alleged that the doctors were experimenting on the patient with different medicines. On 29.10.2014, the patient had high temperature (105^o F), high BP with irrelevant talk. Therefore she was shifted to the ICU. Her respiratory rate was 40/min, temperature became 103^o F and pH was 7.11. At midnight, the patient became restless, agitated and showing abnormal behavior. It was further alleged that the doctor administered injection ‘Midazolam’ without intubation to the patient which caused respiratory depression. The patient became critical, there was no proper monitoring in ICU. The BP was falling, it was 110/70 mm Hg at 3:29am and fallen to 60/40 at around 5:30am. The patient was on ventilator on PRVC mode with 100% O₂. At 5:36am one of the doctors informed that the patient suffered a respiratory arrest at 4:30am. Subsequently, during treatment the patient died at 11:09am due to hypoxia.

Being aggrieved by the alleged gross negligence and carelessness of the treating doctors causing death of his daughter, the Complainant filed a Complaint before this Commission and prayed for total compensation of Rs. 5,23,60,000/- from the Opposite Parties under different heads.

DEFENCE:

3. The Opposite Party No. 1 stated that the patient was first seen in the OPD on 25.10.2014 with vague symptoms of fever, body ache and upper respiratory catarrh for a week. It increased for the last 3 to 4 days. She was admitted in the Opposite Party No. 1 Hospital with high grade fever. The patient was investigated including Dengue, NS1 and malaria antigen tests. By the evening, the reports were available and the patient was diagnosed as the case of acute febrile illness with Dengue, NS1 positive. On 27.10.2014 in the night, the patient started her menstrual period. Therefore, the nurse on duty was instructed to monitor the flow, however, patient was hemodynamically stable. On the next day, the patient had loose motions. The malaria antigen test was repeated, it was negative. On 29.10.2014, the patient was violent and talking irrelevantly, having high grade fever of 105^o and had signs of incontinence. She was shifted to ICU and at 2.00 am, Inj. Midazolam was given and started ante-epileptic drugs. The ABG revealed severe metabolic acidosis and hyperglycemia. Therefore, insulin infusion along with Sodabicarb was started. At about 4.30 a.m., the patient developed respiratory arrest and hypotension. She was immediately intubated and connected to ventilator. The platelet count was 18000, she was critical and with massive vaginal bleed. The urgent gynecologist was called. An emergency Non Contrast CT (NCCT) of head was done to rule out intracranial bleed. It was reported as defused cerebral edema. At 7.30 a.m. the patient developed ventricular tachycardia and code blue was announced, Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) was started. However, the pa