(Source: PTI)
The apex consumer commission has awarded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh against Madras Medical Mission hospital to be given the kin of Dr J S Paul who died of brain damage by holding it that the patient was not being monitored while in ICU in post-CABG state.
"I have no hesitation in holding that late Dr Paul was not continuously connected to a pulse oximeter (used for measuring blood oxygen) though his saturation levels were being monitored and recorded on hourly basis. To this extent, the hospital was negligent in rendering services to the patient, during his stay in the ICU of the hospital," commission's presiding member Justice V K Jain said. "The Madras Medical Mission is directed to pay compensation quantified at Rs 10,00,000 to complainants along with the cost of litigation quantified at Rs 25,000," he added.
On July 11, 2007, Paul had undergone a coronary artery bypass graft surgery at the hospital and was shifted to ICU later. He was not connected to a pulse oximeter. Dr Paul remained in comatose state and on life support system with irreversible brain damage from July 15, 2007, and was declared dead on July 28.
Hospital version: It was one of the most well-equipped and well-manned ICUs in the country and there was bedside monitoring by nurses and physicians were available round-the- clock to monitor the patients. The pulse oximeter saturations, arterial blood gases and other hemodynamic parameters are continuously monitored in the ICU and documented.
