Last Updated on December 2, 2022 by Dr Bucho
Bangalore: A consumer court has demanded 20 lakh rupees from Udupi Hospital and its doctors for leaving surgical mop inside the abdomen of a woman after a cesarian section. The case began in July 2018 when the complainant, after experiencing labor pains, approached the hospital i.e TMA Pai Hospital for treatment and the baby was delivered by cesarean section.
However, after giving birth, she began to feel pain in her lower abdomen closer to the incision and
foul-smelling vaginal discharge. However, the doctors treating her at the hospital informed her that
The discharge is “Lochia” and the pain is natural during childbirth. It is also assured by Doctors that the pain will ease when the discharge stops.
Desperate for her situation, the patient went to an Ayurvedic doctor, who suggested her to go for an MRI.
The magnetic resonance imaging report showed the presence of “Gossypiboma” (cotton swab) in her body, which is identified as a foreign body inside the body. Immediately Ayurvedic doctor recommended for a
surgery and a surgeon from Kasturba Medical University Hospital performed the third surgery and removed
the mop from her body.
However, even after removing the swab, it was found that the complainant’s sigmoid colon was
completely infected by the presence of a foreign body inside the body. Therefore, the colon said must be
surgically removed by laparoscopic surgery. Since the descending colon and rectum have been sewn together
until he was removed, a replacement hole was made in the small intestine and an ostomy bag was created.
immobilized for artificial excretion.
Finally, after the laparotomy, the patient no longer had abdominal or chest pain and also vaginal discharge. She had to undergo another surgery at Kasturba Hospital in Manipal to remove the colostomy pouch.
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Suffering enough, a 31-year-old woman sued Udupi hospital and 11 doctors in District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Shantinagar for medical negligence resulting in Her deteriorating health, so she was unable to breastfeed her child. Despite all this, the surgeons and representatives of TMA Pai Hospital blamed Bengaluru Woman for seeking treatment from different doctors for the deterioration of her condition. The commission took notes of submissions by both complainant and the alleged and came out with declaring 20 lakh compensation to the complainant for the damage.
Therefore, considering the discharge summary of the Kasturba Hospital, the Commission noted,
“It becomes clear that a surgical mop was retrieved and the drainage abscess was done with retrival of the surgical mop. In view of this, we hold that there is negligence on the part of the doctor OP-5 and his teammates conducted caesarean section on the
complainant on 29.07.2018 and he is a route cause for all the suffering which the complainant undergone.”
While deciding the amount of compensation, the Consumer Court noted,
“Under the circumstances, in the absence of concrete evidence as discussed above, we deem it proper to award a sum of Rs.15,00,000/- as global compensation towards pain and suffering, emotional distress and loss of consortium and further a sum of
Rs.5,00,000/- towards damages for mental suffering, physical suffering, emotional suffering loss of earnings (though not specifically evidenced), but have suffered for herself and her husband and towards legal expenses.”
Source: Medical Dialogues
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