Man wins relief for brain damage in surgery

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DECEMBER 19: The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed that a person who suffered brain damage dur...

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DECEMBER 19: The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed that a person who suffered brain damage during a nasal surgery be paid compensation of Rs 8 lakh and his parents Rs 50,000 by Dr P.C. Koruthu, an ENT surgeon at St Gregorious Mission Hospital at Parumala near Thiruvalla, and the New India Assurance Company.

The parents, P.O. George and Ponnamma George, had submitted to the Commission comprising President Justice L. Manoharan and members K. Madhuri Latha and R. Vijayakumaran that their only son Roji George, then a 21-year-old computer student, had been admitted to the hospital on June 30, 1997, for a surgery to correct his deviated nasal septum to get relief from bronchitic asthma.

The next morning, Roji had been taken to the operation theatre and anaesthesiologist Elizabeth Thomas had given him general anaesthesia. At the same time, he had also been administered local anaesthesia by the surgeon, they stated.

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Under the impact of the local anaesthesia, theparents stated, the patient had suffered a heart failure. Though the heart was revived within four minutes, it had by then badly damaged his brain, turning him into a vegetable, the parents argued.

They contended that negligence by the doctors and lack of facilities had caused the tragedy.

The Commission, which admitted the arguments, however, acquitted Elizabeth Thomas on the advise of expert opinion. Though the youth’s parents had demanded compensation of Rs 18.5 lakh, the Commission awarded them Rs 8.5 lakh for the mental agony caused due to the tragedy of their only son and towards meeting Roji’s medical expenses.

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