Wrong diagnosis: Consumer panel dismisses complaint

Update: The Karnataka state consumer disputes redressal commission has dismissed the case against the accused.
BANGALORE: Any wrong diagnosis by a doctor can cause mental agony for a patient and is thereby a deficiency in service, a Bangalore consumer court has ruled.
The first additional district consumer court has ordered a gynaecologist and a radiologist to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation to a 27-year-old woman.She delivered a partially handicapped baby boy in December 2010 for failing to diagnose the abnormality during prenatal tests.
The court also took objection to the casual manner in which reports had been given and signed. The court was hearing a complaint filed by Bageerathi Vijay Prasad, 27, a resident of JP Nagar.
Bageerathi alleged that the faulty sonography report had kept her in the dark about the abnormal condition of her baby during pregnancy. She also alleged that the accused always pretended to be busy and never paid required attention to her.
The August 2010 sonography report said ‘‘no gross anomalies (were) detected (in the baby) at this period of gestation’’. But Bageerathi delivered a baby boy on December 17, 2010. One of the baby’s legs was not fully developed and had only three toes at the knee at an abnormal angle.
The child underwent amputation from the knee, the complainant said and added that it being a case of prosthesis, future changes would have to be done in accordance with the baby's growth.
“The scan could have easily detected the deformities/anomalies in the foetus. If it had been told to me earlier, I would have taken proper medical treatment or would have been prepared for abnormality,’’ Bageerathi said.
Bageerathi the court that she would never have aborted the child if she had been told about the abnormalities in advance. The hospital and the doctors denied that the diagnosis was casual and indifferent.