Doctors Cannot Be Held Liable Without Reliable Evidence of Medical Negligence Delhi District Commission (Consumer Case)
The complainant underwent a second tubectomy at an Employee State Insurance hospital after the first surgery failed. Following the procedure, the complainant experienced complications and claimed medical negligence.
According to the Family Planning Insurance scheme, the Directorate of Family Planning was to provide Rs. 30,000 compensations for sterilization failure, but the hospital refused to disburse the amount despite repeated requests. The hospital argued that it followed proper procedures and that failure rates for laparoscopic sterilization were low (7 in 1000 cases), denying any negligence.
The complainant then filed a case before the consumer forum. The bench observed that the complainant failed to provide evidence showing that the 2008 Family Planning Insurance Manual applied in 2014. Citing a Supreme Court judgment (State of Punjab v. Shiv Ram), it noted that sterilization failure alone does not prove medical negligence without expert evidence.
The bench also referred to the NCDRC’s decision in the Kamla Kesharwani’s case, which stated that sterilization methods are not 100% foolproof, and pregnancies can occur despite successful procedures. As the complainant provided no reliable evidence of negligence by the surgeon, the complaint was dismissed for lack of merit.
Source: – Live Law
By: – Rajat Ranjan
