City hospital to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh

Hyderabad January 13: A consumer court has asked a city hospital to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the family of a patient who died after undergoing liver transplant surgery at their facility.According to the complaint filed at the Hyderabad-III District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum by Praveen Kumar Reddy, his father M. Chenchi Reddy was suffering from a liver disorder. They approached Global hospitals for consultation in the month of August 2013 and there a doctor advised him to go for a liver transplant based upon the diagnostic tests.The complainant s sister agreed to be the donor and tests were conducted to evaluate the compatibility. The hospital quoted a package price of Rs 24. 5 lakh, with 21 days stay at the hospital, including a maximum stay of 14 days in the ICU.Subsequently, surgery was conducted on October 9, 2013 and the family of Reddy were informed that the surgery was successful and that he would be discharged within 21 days.However, On October 12, 2013, at about 8 am, Chenchi Reddy died. And the complainant, Praveen claimed that the hospital failed to provide any accurate reason for the death. As the patient died within three days, Praveen informed that he addressed a letter to the medical director of the hospital seeking a refund of the package amount of Rs 24 lakh after deducting applicable charges. They contended that there was no excess amount collected with regard to staying at the hospital both for the donor and the patient and denied any negligence on their part and plead for a dismissal of the case.In the end, although the forum denied medical negligence case against the hospital, it clearly said: "When the opposite parties (hospital) have received the entire sum of the package in advance for a duration of stay not exceeding 21 days and when the patient expired within 3 days, the opposite parties ought to refund any sum that may have been paid in excess as advance. It is admitted that the opposite parties refunded a sum of Rs.1.63 lakh but the same was given without any detailed explanation as to how they arrived at that figure."