The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission here has slapped a fine of ₹5 lakh on a doctor and a private hospital in Kochi for subjecting a woman to COVID-19 treatment even after she was found negative for the virus in 2021.
The commission imposed the fine on the doctor and the hospital in a case filed against them by Soji Reni from Kakkadampoyil, Urangattiri. She reached the hospital on May 26, 2021, with some health issues along with her husband. The result of an antigen test conducted on her was indeterminate, which made the hospital go for an RT-PCR test.
Although the test result was negative, it was not conveyed to the patient. Instead, she was admitted to the intensive care unit, where she was isolated from her husband and her son. Her request for shifting to a single room too was turned down. She came to know of her negative COVID-19 status only when she met her husband on the third day.
She got herself discharged from the hospital against the doctor’s advice and took treatment in another hospital, where she was found to have been suffering from a kidney ailment.
She claimed before the commission that the doctor who treated her for COVID-19 had mistaken her kidney ailment for COVID-19. She also claimed that she had been given medicines meant for COVID-19 patients, and that she had had many side effects of them.
The doctor and the hospital claimed that she had COVID-19 symptoms, and that the medicines were given as per the COVID-19 protocol. They said they had not hidden the test results from the patient. They said they had given medicines meant for the benefit of the patient. They also said that the medicines given to the patient were being given in other countries.
However, the commission found no justification in giving the ‘high dose’ medicines to a patient without COVID-19, saying that the doctor’s action was against medical ethics and COVID-19 protocol. The commission accused the doctor and the hospital of denying the patient’s basic right to know of her illness and the treatment. “This is a violation of the COVID-19 protocol approved by the Indian Medical Council,” the panel said.
The doctor and the hospital will have to pay ₹25,000 in court proceedings in addition to the fine of ₹5 lakh. The commission sitting was chaired president K. Mohandas and members Preeti Sivaraman and C.V. Mohammed Ismail.
Published – December 27, 2024 08:14 pm IST
