Court to rescue of victim of medical negligence
MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.
MADURAI, February 3, 2012
"The right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution is not a life of mere animal existence. The life should be meaningful. The right also includes medical aid," the Madras High Court Bench here said, directing the State government to shift a victim of medical negligence from Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) here to Christian Medical College (CMC) Hospital in Vellore at its cost.
Moved by the plight of G. Rukmani, who was in coma stage ever since she was wrongly administered nitrous oxide instead of oxygen during a family planning surgery at Kanyakumari Government Medical College Hospital in Nagercoil on March 19, Justice K.K. Sasidharan also ordered the government to bear the entire expenditure of her treatment at CMC apart from depositing Rs. 2 lakh forthwith.
The interim orders were passed following a writ petition filed by the woman's husband S. Ganesan, who claimed that the GRH neither had the infrastructure to treat his wife nor the expensive medicines required to keep her alive. The unskilled labourer from Kanyakumari produced pharmacy bills to prove that he was being forced to purchase medicines from the open market. But the Medical Superintendent of GRH denied the petitioner's claims. He said a team of doctors had been continually examining the patient since she was shifted here on April 12. Further, the clinical reports suggested that it would take a very long time for the patient to improve from her present state and that she would require neuro rehabilitation and general medical care for the rest of her life.
Not in agreement with such submission, the judge said: "I am now concerned with the case of a poor patient who is in a hostile medical environment. There is no point in saying that the patient should take lifelong treatment without making a genuine attempt to save her from the present stage of coma… The State has no case that the GRH is equipped with all facilities to treat such an extreme neuro case.
"I am not in a position to agree with the Dean (Medical Superintendent) that all the required medicines are available at the GRH. When the State fails in its duty to give timely medical attention to the poor, it is the primary duty of courts to come to the rescue of such people who have no access to costly medical treatment in the corridors of corporate hospitals."
Courtesy_
