Forum order against doctor set aside

hubli: the order of the dharwad consumer disputes redressal forum against a reputed medical practitioner of hubli about two years back, which had created ripples among the medical fraternity, has been set aside by the karnataka state consumer disputes redressal commission. leading pathologist k.s. datta was directed by the district forum in 1998 to pay a compensation of rs 16,000 for faulty diagnosis by concluding that "the patient in question suffers from cancer".datta had gone on an appeal against the order. in a judgment, the commission stated: "there is no reason to brand datta guilty of deficiency of service without establishing his guilt by acceptable evidence. the district forum has erred in coming to the conclusion." the case was that the patient, ramdas narayan kamath, a retired bank manager of dharwad, had to undergo mental agony on account of a faulty biopsy conducted by datta and also had to shell out a large sum for treatment. kamath was declared cancer patient by a biopsy prepared by datta's laboratory. but the manipal hospital in dakshina kannada, after subjecting kamath to a check-up, ruled out the possibility of cancer. the amendment to the consumer act bringing medical services under its purview, came in handy for him to file a case with the dharwad forum. and the forum upheld the contention of kamath. but now, kamath has failed to provide additional evidence to show that either there were other bone specimens on the day when his was examined leading to an inadvertent mix-up. also, definite evidence would be indispensable to come to a conclusion that datta is guilty of negligence, which gave a harrowing time to kamath till manipal hospital declared he was not a cancer patient.