22 yrs on,cancer surgeon found guilty of medical negligence

Singhi,now 83 years old,had filed a case of medical negligence against Desai after his wife Leela died on February 25,1989,while allegedly being treated by Desai. “I have attended close to 400 hearings in this court and the High Court over these years. I have not missed a single court date,” Singhi said.

In his plaint before the court,Singhi had said that Leela was first diagnosed with cancer in 1977 and was taken to Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital in New York in 1987 for removal of uterus. The doctors there said her case was “completely inoperable”. Later,she was brought to Bombay Hospital. After preliminary examinations by Dr AK Mukherji,then working under Desai at the hospital,the latter recommended surgery. After Mukherji opened Leela’s abdomen, he told Desai that Leela’s case was inoperable. It was then that Desai asked him to close it. Singhi said the dressings from the operation added to Leela’s torment. She was bed-ridden and went through a lot of agony till she finally died in 1989.

Singhi filed a criminal complaint against Desai under Section 338 (causing hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others) and Section 109 (Abetment). In an affidavit submitted to the court in June 2006,Desai had stated that although Bombay Hospital records indicated that Leela was his patient,he had not examined her and she was being looked after by Mukherji. “When a patient is admitted in the hospital under my care and responsibility,the junior surgeon does not start the operation without my knowledge,instruction or approval,” he had stated.

He said the hospital followed a practice of registering the patient under name of the senior surgeon and since Dr Mukherji was an assistant surgeon,he could not admit a patient in his name,Desai stated in his affidavit.

“The court also agreed that the medical papers and hospital bills registered Mrs Singhi as Desai’s patient,” said Singhi’s lawyer Sanjay Vishwakarma. Although section 338 attracts a maximum punishment of two years,the court took note of Desai’s age and the fact that he has no criminal antecedents and sent him to a day’s imprisonment,he said. The court asked the police to take Desai in custody on Tuesday afternoon and release him in the evening.

“The punishment is inadequate but I will not pursue the case any further,” Singhi said.

Singhi’s case seeking compensation for his wife’s death is pending before the Bombay High Court and is likely to be heard on July 7. “I had sought compensation of Rs 30 lakh. Over 22 years with interest,the amount would now be close to Rs 4 crore,” hesaid. If he succeeds,he plans to use the money to set up a charitable trust in his wife’s name for female cancer patients.