In a case of medical negligence, a private medical college hospital in Puducherry has been asked to pay a sum of Rs 10 lakh to a woman as compensation for inflicting mental agony, pain and suffering on her.

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The district consumer disputes’ redressal commission in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore also directed Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute to settle Rs 2 lakh as punitive charges for unfair trade practices and to pay Rs 25,000 towards litigation costs.

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Needle left during childbirth procedure

The aggrieved woman, in her complaint, registered that a team headed by a gynaecologist in MGMCH & RI left a broken needle in her perineum, TOI reported.

This incident happened when an episiotomy was performed on her after she gave birth to a baby boy on December 11, 2016.

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Following this, the baby was moved to an intensive care unit, citing some complications, and the woman and family members were barred from seeing the baby. 

Notably, on December 13, 2016, an x-ray report revealed that a part of the needle, which was broken, was nestled in the woman’s perineum. 

Surgery to extract needle was unsuccessful 

Upon this, the hospital administration fetched signatures from the woman’s mother in ‘agreement’ to conduct surgery to extract the broken needle without informing her about a foreign object’s presence in the patient’s body.

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However, the surgery, which went on for 3 hours, still was unsuccessful, as the doctors could not retrieve the needle, further complicating the woman’s health.

Thereafter, the woman’s family opted to get her discharged and approach another hospital. 

But the hospital authorities made her sign and execute another agreement, with her husband assigned as a witness. 

The complainant said the needle part was still lodged in her body and which caused immense trouble to her.

Hospital promised resolution after three months

MGMCH & RI, while acknowledging the presence of a small part of the needle in the woman’s perineum, stated that the needle was not trackable during the recent surgery owing to inflammation in the area. 

The surgical team temporarily left the piece of the needle to avoid more damage to the reproductive organs. 

The health facility, which has maintained that the patient and her relatives were briefed about the situation, said the issue could be sorted out only after three months. 

The hospital then executed an agreement with the patient and guaranteed that they will take care of medical issues and cover all the treatment costs, including subsequent management, investigations, medicines and procedures.

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