NCDRC directs doctor to pay Rs 3L for negligent treatment

New Delhi: The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has directed a doctor to pay a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to a patient for being negligent in treating him, wrongly billing him for the treatment and causing him "mental agony" and "pain".

A bench of the apex consumer commission comprising President R K Agrawal and member M Shreesha asked the doctor, Geeta Jindal, to pay the compensation for the medical expenses incurred by the patient and the inflated billing.

The New India Insurance Company Limited would be liable to pay the amount as the doctor was covered by an indemnity policy, the bench noted. The tribunal said the doctor was not only "negligent" in treating the patient but had also wrongly billed the victim for the "treatment that was never rendered" and therefore, it amounted to an unfair trade practice.

The tribunal allowed the revision petition of Haryana resident Dinesh Joshi, seeking a review of the state consumer disputes redressal commission's order dated May 10, 2016 dismissing his complaint, in which he had sought a direction to the doctor to refund the amount charged from him on account of wrong and unnecessary treatment.

According to the petition, Joshi had visited Jindal in Panchkula, Haryana on October 4, 2011 as he had a severe pain in his buttock. Jindal had given him medicines stating that he was suffering from fissures and that the pain would decrease within two days.

However, after two days, Joshi, who was still in severe pain, was rushed to Jindal and was admitted to a hospital, where she charged him Rs 36,450 for the treatment, despite assuring him earlier that the total expenses for his treatment would not exceed Rs 7,000, the petition said.