Hyderabad: The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has directed Yashoda Hospital of Hyderabad to pay Rs 47 lakh in compensation to the family of a policeman who died due to medical negligence.

The order came in appeals filed by both Yashoda Hospital and D Uma Devi, wife of the deceased, before a bench of Justice J MMalik and commission member Dr. S M Kantikar.

As per the complaint, on May 13, 2008, D Sadasiva Reddy, who was suffering from jaundice, was admitted to Yashoda Hospital, Hyderabad. The doctor advised him Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio -Pancreatography (ERCP) with CBD endoscopy. During the ERCP procedure the next day, the doctors administered anaesthesia through Propofol drug, which resulted in fatal complications in the patient and therefore ERCP procedure was abandoned.

Reddy was brought out of the operation theatre in an unconscious (comatose) state. After that, he never recovered from coma. He eventually became brain dead. After a long struggle of two and half years, Reddy died on October 12, 2010, at the age of 42.

The hospital attributed this sorry state of affairs to the sudden cardiac arrest while conducting ERCP procedure. Alleging medical negligence, Reddy’s wife Uma approached the Andhra Pradesh State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Hyderabad against the Hospital.  The hospital was ordered by the state commission to pay Rs 10 lakhs as compensation. Aggrieved by the impugned order, the both parties appealed before the National Commission.

In its order passed on April 11, 2016, a bench of Justice comprising J M Malik (Presiding Member) and Dr. S M Kantikar (Member), while enhancing the compensation amount from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 47 lakh, said, “The ERCP procedure was not followed by the doctors as per standard guidelines; the Propofol was administered without monitoring and caution. The cardiac arrest was not managed properly, therefore, the patient suffered coma. Thus, it is the case of medical negligence.”