For wrong surgery, Doctor was held negligent, but Hospital was held vicariously liable ..

Doctor was held Negligenent for doing wrong surgery, but Hosptial was held Vicariously Liable and ,
Lastly Insurance Company was ordered  to Pay the fine as per the policy, taken by Hospital !!

Its indeed a Very interesting case.

Its a very short, 8 Paragraphs  judgment of National Commission, NEW INDIA ASSURANCE CO. LTD V/s.SRI SAI HOSPITAL, U.P., & 3 ORS, date of judgment 4th January, 2016.

The Factual matrix in short :

The main contention of the petitioner.Insurance Company is that, since, the complainant himself has stated that there was fraud and usurping of money from him, under conspiracy, therefore, the fraud and conspiracy is not covered under the insurance policy and Insurance Company therefore is not liable to pay .

The surgery was performed at wrong site/ level on the spinal lesion. It was observed that instead of S1 S2 level, the doctors erroneously performed surgery at one level above i.e. L5 – S1 level & therefore, it was not an error of judgment, but it was a medical negligence.
It was further observed that both the fora below made wrong observations regarding fraud and conspiracy, instead of medical negligence on part of Doctors…
The Hospital was held liable for vicariously liable for Negligence of its Doctors and as the Hospital was insured with the Petitioner, the Petitioner Insurance company was directed to pay compensation to the Victim!!!!

The Medical Negligence is always proved by Evidence on record and the facts of each case…. This case was surely case of Negligence and not error of judgement.. so be careful..
Nevertheless, this Judgment throws a light on very important, but, unnoticed aspect of Insurance Cover. Now a days as there is a rise in the incidences of Medical Negligence cases as well as attack on Doctors and in such situations, the financial burden that may be saddled upon doctors may run into  lakhs or in crores,  So I think it’s worth paying the Premium.

Always remember the common British saying ,"Penny wise, Pound Foolish".

Thanks & regards.

Adv. Rohit Erande
Pune. ©

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