The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has dismissed a case filed by the wife and children of former Chief Justice of India Jagdish Sharan Verma, alleging that medical negligence had led to the death of the former CJI.
The Bench of presiding member Dr. S.M. Kantikar, retired Justice Ram Surat Ram Maurya (judicial member) and Dr. Inder Jit Singh (technical member) quashed the charges levelled against the Medanta Hospital (Gurugram), Bhardwaj Nursing and Maternity Home Private Limited (Noida), and the Fortis Escorts Institute (Delhi).
Dismissing the allegations levelled against Dr. V.A. Bharadwaj, Dr. Sanjiv Bharadwaj, Dr. Randhir Sud, Dr. Yatin Mehta, Dr. Ravi Kasliwal, Piyush Jain and Naresh Trehan, the Bench observed that the decision to prescribe Dabigatran (blood thinning medicine) was not incorrect.
It said there was no interaction between this medicine and other drugs such as Amiodarone and Clopidogrel.
The counsel appearing for the complainant pointed out a chain of events supporting its allegations. He pointed out incidents such as delay in conducting endoscopy or poor attempts to increase level of calcium in the blood (hypocalcaemia) by Medanta, failure to conduct proper tests, prescription of medicines without proper analysis of test results, and multiple transfusions by Fortis Escorts.
The petitioner said despite being diagnosed with coronary heart disease in 1998, Justice Verma looked after his health by adopting a healthy lifestyle, balanced diet, exercise and regular check-up.
The Commission pointed out that an act shall be deemed to be medical negligence if the four D’s – duty, dereliction, direct cause and damages were proved by the complainant.
Expressing deep sympathies over the death of the former CJI, the Bench, however, clarified that the death of Justice Verma was not a result of dereliction of duties either by the hospitals or the doctors since the standard medical protocols were complied with.
It relied on the Supreme Court verdict in the Chanda Rani Ankhouri vs M.S. Methusethupathi Mithupath case.
The Apex Court had ruled that medical practitioners cannot be held liable for any wrong effect that takes place by opting for one reasonable course of action over another, since there are different approaches to deal with an issue in the field of medical science.
A complaint was filed by the wife and children of Justice Verma, accusing the hospitals and doctors that provided him treatment between November 2012 to December 2013 of medical negligence.
Earlier in 2014, the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) held that no medical negligence was committed on June 10, 2014. The order was reiterated by the Medical Council of India (MCI) on October 10, 2015.
Former CJI Verma passed away due to multiple organ failure at the age of 80 years on April 22, 2013.
Justice Verma was an Indian jurist, who served as the 27th Chief Justice of India between March 25, 1997 and January 18, 1998.
Post his retirement, he also worked as the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) from 1999-2003. He headed a three-member panel, which suggested amendments in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after the Nirbhaya gangrape case that led to Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.