Consumer forum imposes Rs 10L fine on RN Tagore

Kolkata: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, South 24-Parganas, has slapped a fine of Rs 10 lakh on the Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, Mukundapur, and its three doctors whose alleged negligence led to the death of a patient.

The consumer disputes redressal forum instructed the private hospital authorities and the doctors to pay the compensation to the family members of the victim within a month from the date of issuance of the order, failing which they will have to bear an interest rate of 8 per cent till the full realisation of the fine amount.

The victim, Ranjan Sil, a resident of Regent Park area in the city had undergone an open heart surgery way back in 2010. Two years after the surgery, the patient developed a problem in his left leg and eventually he could not move his leg.

His health condition deteriorated further and he started having respiratory problems coupled with chest pain in October 2013. He was then admitted to Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences and the doctors prescribed to put him in the ICU.

The doctors in the hospital told the family members of the patient that he had some infection in his chest and some fluid was traced in his chest.

They also assured the family members that fluid can be removed through medicines and the patient will recover. The patient was transferred to the general ward without the fluid being removed from his chest.

The doctors suggested that the fluids in the chest would be removed through medicines.

In the next month, the doctors decided to conduct a surgery extract the fluid. The hospital asked the family members to pay nearly Rs 3 lakh for the surgery. The doctors conducted the surgery on November 5, 2013.

A day after the operation was conducted on the patient, his condition deteriorated. On November 7, 2013, the doctors said blood had clotted in his lung and the patient needed to be operated once again. On the next day the operation was conducted for the second time.

The opinion was divided between the two sets of doctors where a dialysis would be conducted on the patient as the patient was not passing adequate urine. On November 11, 2013, the hospital authorities told the family members of the victim that the he had died. On January 21, 2015, the victim's wife lodged a complaint with the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum.