Hospitals must be properly equipped and prepared to manage known complications of anaesthesia. A hospital and its doctor were not in this unfortunate case which lead to patient’s death!

Cases of surgical mop left in patient’s body after a procedure are being increasingly reported. The medical team must adopt and adhere to a protocol – if not in place – to reduce such mishaps. And admitting to the mistake instead of shrugging off from responsibility can also help their case.

Instances of patients suing doctors and hospitals for not receiving desired result of a surgery and patients who are victims of rare but known complications are on a steady incline. Counselling them before performing the procedure could be a way to reduce such avoidable cases.

This is an interesting case of a general physician (GP) who was sued by one of his patient. The reason for the case reaching the court was that the patient developed abscess in the left side of her waist after an injection was administered by the doctor.

Hospitals are liable for the act of their doctors / staff, whether part-time or full-time, and even if they are students / interns. They cannot escape the legal liability if a claim of negligence is levelled and proved against any staff member.

Not responding to specific complains and allegations made by the patient in a court of law usually draws adverse inference. In the eyes of law, it is nothing but submission of guilt and the doctor / hospital is usually held negligent, as happened in this case.

No time must be spent or wasted in referring the patient to higher centre when the need arises. It can not only prove fatal for the patient but such delay can also be inferred as negligence on part of doctors / hospitals, which is what happened in this instance.

Pintu, a young professional bodybuilder from rural Maharashtra, was admitted in the hospital with complain of pain in abdomen for ten days. The doctor performed ultrasonography (USG), diagnosed liver cirrhosis and started treatment based on the diagnosis.

Unfortunately, he died after about a month and half. How did a young man die within such a short time? The explanation lies in the observations made by Commission.