Visakhapatnam: Private hospital ordered to pay Rs 40 lakh compensation to victim family

The Andhra Pradesh Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered the Queens NRI Hospital in Visakhapatnam to pay hefty compensation to a family in a 9-year-old medical negligence case. Per the body’s directives, the hospital will have to pay Rs 40 lakhs to the parents of the victim, Seela Tulsiram, who passed away on 12 October 2013 due to overdosage of anaesthetic drugs. Seela Suribabu and Seela Venkata Appalakonda raised a complaint against the hospital with the AP Medical Council in 2013 for the death of Tulsiram.

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In their statement to the council, the complainants said that Tulsiram, a resident of Arilova, Visakhapatnam, was admitted to the Queens NRI Hospital on 8 October 2013 due to severe abdominal pain. Upon being diagnosed with appendicitis, Dr TS Prasad operated on him the same day, and he was later shifted to the ICU. Shockingly, he was declared dead four days later, on 12 October 2013, after slipping into a coma. Later, the patient’s family learnt that Dr Devudu Babu, a neuro physician, advised a brain scan and administered anaesthetics to the patient on 9 October.

As the hospital management failed to explain correctly, the deceased’s family members approached various bodies, including the  AP Medical Council. Based on the case sheet, the council clarified that it was a case of anaesthetic overdosage, which led to a coma and, eventually, a cardiac arrest.

The Human Rights Commission further confirmed the allegations against the hospital from the KGH. Nevertheless, the hospital management denied all the charges against them and stated that the death was caused due to the delay by the family to admit him. After hearing the arguments of both parties and examining the available evidence, the HRC ruled the hospital pay Rs 40 lakh as compensation and Rs 25,000 each for legal and funeral charges.

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