Court Orders

New Delhi: Ayurvedic doctor to compensate for negligence

A six-year-old boy who became permanently disabled due to improper plastering of his arms by an ayurvedic doctor, has won a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh as a consumer court held the doctor guilty of medical negligence.

The state consumer commissioner president Justice JD Kapoor and member Rumnita Mittal held the doctor, RS Madhukar’s conduct, as an “act of grossest negligence and said he plastered the injury on the presumption that it was a case of fracture whereas he could not have done so without getting an X-ray”.

The doctor, who runs Nadhukar Clinic near Sultanpuri, defended himself by saying that he had only provided first-aid to the victim.

However, the commissioner observed, “He was practicing ayurveda and undertook the treatment of the child as if he was an orthopedic surgeon.” Had the doctor just provided first-aid, he would have applied some ointment or prescribed some painkillers. It added, “It appears that the doctor was completely ignorant of the fact that tightly bandaging or plastering the arm … was bound to result in an impairment of the blood supply to that part.”

Vikas suffered the injury in his left arm in April 2003, while playing. The doctor charged his father, Anil Singh, Rs 3,500 for applying the plaster. When the plaster was removed after two months, Vikas’ left arm had become paralyzed.

Anil said in his complaint that he rushed his son to the RML Hospital and LHMC Hospital where he was informed that the arm was now untreatable. Ultimately, the child was taken to Jaipur Golden Hospital where he was operated upon and the expenditure cost him Rs 70,000.

Finally, Anil dragged the doctor to a consumer forum, which held him guilty of negligence and directed him to pay a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh in addition to the litigation. The doctor appealed against the forum’s order in the commission, which has now dismissed his plea.

Source: Disabled 6-year-old gets justice. The Times of India, Daily, New Delhi, 5 October 2006.