New Delhi: Through a
recent judgment, the Delhi High court upheld the Medical Council of
India order calling for removal a gynecologist’s name from the Indian
Medical Register for 15 days. This came after the council held her
guilty of negligence in providing post-operative care to a patient after
childbirth, which left her suffering from a permanent paraplegia. The
Delhi High Court had upheld the said decision after the doctors
challenged the MCI’s order.
The case concerns a patient, who was
admitted for childbirth under the care of Dr Meena Harsinghani, a
gynecologist and obstetrician by profession at Deepak Nursing Home. She
was consulting Dr Meena since her pre-natal period.
After examination, the doctor informed
the patient that the fetus had passed meconium in the uterus and that
could be dangerous, as the fetus could breathe the meconium into his
/her lungs. Therefore, she was rushed to the operation theatre in
emergency.
As the anesthesiologists on the panel of
the nursing home were not available, Dr Narayan Harsinghani, Dr Meena’s
husband, an anesthesiologist administered anaesthesia in the spine of
the patient. The patient delivered the baby without any further
complications. However, she complained of severe pain in the back and
heaviness in the lower part of her body.
She was examined on the next morning,
which was around 14-15 hours after the operation. Subsequently, a
consulting neurologist, Dr Nirmala Lahoti advised treatment including
steroids and physiotherapy and advised an MRI in case of poor response
to the steroids. The MRI showed that she had suffered from an epidural
haematoma, a post-spinal anesthesia complication leaving the patient
with permanent paraplegia.
Aggrieved with the fact that if the
complication had been discovered at an earlier stage, she wouldn’t have
suffered the paralysis, the patient filed a complaint with the Delhi
Medical Council (DMC) alleging that after the delivery of the baby,
neither the gynecologist nor the anesthetist checked her leg movement
and sensation to ascertain whether power had come back. She stated that
she had severe pain in her spine and thighs but the doctors took it very
lightly.
After hearing the complaint, the
Disciplinary Committee of DMC observed that the treating team failed to
assess the gravity of the clinical condition of the complainant.
The committee concluded that the doctor
couple had failed to exercise the reasonable degree of skill, knowledge,
and care, as was expected of an ordinary prudent doctor, in the
treatment administered to the patient at the Nursing Home. Accordingly,
it recommended that the names of the petitioners be removed from the State Medical Register for a period of 15 days.
While observing the recommendation made by the committee, the DMC held, “In this case error of judgment constituted an act of medical negligence,” and directed the suspension. In response, the doctors moved the MCI, preferring an appeal against the said order.
Before the Ethics Committee of MCI, the
doctors asserted that the patient had complained of the heaviness of
limbs only in the morning of 29.11.2008. She was thereafter, examined by
Dr Narayan, who found some movements in both the limbs. The doctors
emphatically stated that Dr Lahoti had advised a conservative treatment
and had not advised an MRI.
Dr Lahoti refuted the statement and
reiterated that she was called for consultation about 18 hours after
administration of anesthesia. “By that time the Complainant had already
suffered maximum neurological damage,” she added. In addition, she
alleged that the medical records had tampered.
After considering the submissions made by all the parties, the Ethics Committee of the MCI concluded,
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