Medical negligence cases crawl in Karnataka consumer courts

Bengaluru: Cases of medical negligence before the Karnataka State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (KSCDRC) have moved at a snail's pace over the past year due to a multitude of factors. 

According to the latest publicly available data on the KSCDRC website, which has statewide statistics until September 2024, only 15 complaints or appeals of alleged medical negligence have been disposed of since September 2023, at least half of which dragged on for 10 years or more. 

As of September 30, 259 such cases of alleged medical negligence — 73 appeals and 186 complaints — are pending, out of 1,285 complaints or appeals of medical negligence filed before the commission since its inception in 1989. Between September 2023 and 2024, two more appeals were placed before the commission, taking the total number from 1,283 to 1,285. 

According to the Confonet website, where judgements of all consumer court cases across the country are uploaded, one of the earliest complaints alleging "medical negligence" before the state commission was filed on February 20, 2010. 

Bengaluru hospital

In that case, a woman sustained grievous injuries in a road crash and died in 2007 after alleged improper administration of anaesthesia at a private hospital in Bengaluru.

The commission delivered its judgement in November 2023, ordering the Peenya-based hospital and two doctors to jointly pay the family Rs 38 lakh with an annual interest of 6% from the date of the accident till realisation. 

Tumakuru PHC 

In another case, a duty doctor at a PHC in Tumakuru appealed against the Tumakuru district commission’s judgement in March 2014, after the latter directed him to pay Rs 1 lakh to a boy whose arm was amputated. 

The boy had suffered grievous injuries due to a fall in 2013 and was shifted to a PHC, where the duty doctor tied a bandage to his right arm without consulting the orthopaedic surgeon or taking an X-ray. 

The district commission concluded that the bandage obstructed blood circulation, leading to the right hand becoming numb and requiring an amputation, thus amounting to medical negligence. The state commission, which passed its order in September 2024, dismissed the doctor's appeal and upheld the district commission's order. 

A senior official from the state commission said, “Any person aggrieved by the judgement of any of the 33 district commissions can approach the state commission or if there are claims more than Rs 50 lakh, they can directly approach the state commission. There are many cases that come to the commission and more people are becoming aware of their consumer rights, therefore they are approaching the consumer courts, which is increasing input and possibly leading to some pendency”. 

A practising lawyer in Bengaluru, who requested anonymity, noted that there were several factors involved in proving the fault was on the hospital or the doctor’s part, unlike proving deficiency of service or a faulty product. "Many times, the doctors will argue that they did everything they could with due care and it is difficult to prove otherwise," he said. 

Medical cases also depend on the patient’s health conditions before and after a procedure, making it difficult to prove negligence. "Now, we also file a complaint before the state medical council, which will appoint an expert to look into the case. We can request that expert for help in the consumer court," he noted. 

Dr Sanjay Sukumar, medical college professor and expert in this area, said medical negligence cases are resolved within eight to nine years on average. 

"In many cases, advocates representing the complainants do not get experts who can prove or disprove medical negligence and the treating doctor's dereliction of duty, making it difficult for judges to give their judgement," he explained. 

He added that the pandemic could also be a reason why many cases have piled up as no judgements were made during those two years (2020-21).