The West Bengal State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (WBSCDRC) has passed a has allowing a compensation of Rs. 20 lakhs for medical negligence causing death of 62-year-old man in a private hospital.

The commission on August 30 asked T K Biswas who performed a gall-bladder surgery on the patient, to pay Rs 15 lakhs and directed the authorities of the hospital in Midnapore town to pay Rs 5 lakhs the family of the deceased who was a resident of Janardanpur in West Midnapore district. He was admitted to Roy Nursing home in Midnapore town in July, 2013. He died from "sepsis" after he was shifted to Peerless Hospital in Kolkata. 

The matter came before the commission after son of the deceased moved a petition seeking justice for the wrongful treatment that resulted in death of his father. “Biswas performed a gall-bladder surgery (laparoscopic holecystectomy) at the hospital Midnapore town even without a proper “informed consent” and grossly neglected the patient after the surgery,” Kunal Saha president of People for Better Treatment, said.

“The patient eventually died from “sepsis” after he was shifted to the Peerless Hospital,” he added. “This is a case of a poor and very ordinary man in a remote western village of the state who died solely due to reckless treatment followed by complete lack of post-surgical care," Saha said.

“The surgeon rushed to the gall-bladder surgery instead of referring the patient to a higher center for an ERCP for a better outcome solely for the greed of money from the poor and uninformed patient," he said. The commission analyzed the relevant medical documents to prepare and the complaint and summoned the hospital authorities and the surgeon before passing the order. Saha said several cases of medical negligence which have been reported from West Bengal other parts of the country are now pending before the State Commission and National Commission (NCDRC).