The Madras High Court in, Tamil Selvi v. State of Tamil Nadu and ors. while granting a sum of Rs. 5 lakh stated that when a patient is admitted to a government hospital for treatment and suffers any injury or death which is not anticipated to occur in the normal course of events, even in the absence of medical negligence, the government is obliged to disburse exgratia to the affected party.
Facts
The petitioners approached the high court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to seeking directions to the respondent to compensate the petitioners with Rs. 20 lakh over the issue of medical negligence which caused the death of their daughter.
Contention of Petitioners
It was contended by the petitioners that had there been no negligence on the part of the respondents the child wouldn’t have died.
Report of inquiry
It was held by a 4 member committee that there was no medical negligence on the part of the doctors. It appeared that the child was administered a drug known as Propofol.
Contention of Respondent
It was stated by the respondents that propofol is not an intrinsically dangerous drug and it is very much administered to children above 3 years of age. Further, it was said that there are always instances when a drug does not accord with the body of the patient and that leads to unfortunate complications.
Court’s Observation
The Court rejected the contention that it was a case of medical negligence. However, it stated that in such cases neither the petitioner is at fault nor the child. The Court while sympathizing with the petitioners stated, “When a patient is admitted in a government hospital for treatment and he/she suffers any injury or death which is not anticipated to occur in the normal course of events, even in the absence of medical negligence, the government is obliged to disburse exgratia to the affected party.” The Court directed a sum of Rs. 5 lakh to be paid out of corpus fund that has been created by the Tamil Nadu Government.
Case Details
WP(MD)No.2721 of 2017
Coram- G.R.SWAMINATHAN, J
Share this Document :
Picture Source :
