A hospital in Punjab has been ordered to pay a compensation of Rs 50 lakhs to a Punjab and Haryana High Court lawyer who was reduced to a vegetative state owing to medical negligence during childbirth in 2014.

The Punjab State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission ordered JP Hospital of Zirakpur, to pay the compensation to Manisha Dehran, the lawyer. She “does not recognise anybody. She can only sit, cannot walk and responds to a few basic commands”. Manisha, her husband and two young daughters had filed a complaint against the hospital, its employee Gagandeep Kaushal and Dr Rajni Parihar, a private practitioner. All three have been told to pay compensation to the patient within 45 days.

President of the commission Paramjeet Singh Dhaliwal and member Raj Kumar Goyal ordered the compensation for “mental agony, harassment, avoidable pain and disability.” The compensation is to be paid in lump sum at an interest of 9 per cent from the date of filing of the complaint (April 25, 2016) and an additional Rs 33,000 towards litigation cost.

Manisha was taken to ‘“Mom and Me Hospital’ (Zirakpur) of Dr Rajni Parihar on June 6, 2014. In view of persistent pain, she was referred to JP Hospital. Her husband said she was administered ‘epidural analgesia’ there. The patient’s condition deteriorated and C-section was performed. There were several complications during the delivery as also later. Manisha was taken to Max Hospital and then to PGIMER, Chandigarh. She was discharged in September.

The commission held that the procedure followed by the opposite parties was inappropriate and questionable. As a result, Manisha had suffered seizures and “ultimately became unresponsive”.

— India Legal Bureau