Mumbai: KB Bhabha Hospital to pay Rs 4 lakh after child's hand amputated due to negligence

MUMBAI: Eleven years after an 18-month-old boy was admitted to KB Bhabha Hospital at Kurla for fever, but ended up with his right palm being amputated, the state consumer commission has upheld a district forum order and held the hospital guilty of medical negligence. In 2016, the district forum had directed the hospital to pay a compensation of Rs 4.10 lakh to the child's mother, Zeenat Khan.
Dismissing the hospital's appeal against the district forum order, the Maharashtra Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission on Wednesday directed it to pay her compensation and additional costs of Rs 25,000.
In her complaint to the district forum in 2011, the child's mother had said on June 16, 2008, her son was admitted to the hospital for fever. She said over the next couple of days, saline and some medicines were continuously injected through his right hand. The mother said there was no improvement in his health, and his right hand started bleeding from the spot where the saline was injected.
She noticed the child's hand had started blackening, but her repeated pleas for medical attention were ignored. Finally, after the child's hand turned black right up to his wrist, the nurse called a doctor who found he had lost sensation in the fingers.
The mother was then told to take the child to Sion Hospital where a surgery was conducted and his right palm was amputated.