Inserted a pacemaker to make money, rules consumer court.
AB Wire
A consumer court in Delhi has ordered a hospital to pay a penalty of Rs 7.24 lakh to a person for unnecessarily transplanting a pacemaker.
The hospital allegedly implanted a pacemaker which was unnecessary when the victim Ravinder Singh Pawar, a police personnel, approached the hospital for treatment after sustaining chest pain, reported The Hindustan Times.
Justice N K Goel, the president of South Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum bench has asked Rohini-based Saroj Hospital and Heart Institute to pay Rs 7,24,135 to the victim. Pawar worked as a public relation officer at the Delhi Police Headquarters, when the incident happened.
“We hold that Opposite Party-2 (hospital) had implanted the AICD (automated implantable cardioverter defibrillator) in the complainant without there being a need to do so, only with a view to earn profits,” said the forum.
“Not only this, Opposite Party-2 also implanted an unnecessary AICD (which must be a metal in the body of the complainant) which in the facts and circumstances of the case was against all medical ethics,” it added.
Citing the act of the hospital as “against all medical ethics,” the forum judged that the hospital indulged in “unfair trade practice”.
The operation was conducted in 2006 after Ravinder Singh Pawar approached the hospital for treatment following a chest pain. He had suffered two heart attacks in 2003 and 2005. The hospital implanted a pacemaker in his body saying that his condition was critical. The hospital charged Rs 5,24,135, from Pawar as medical expenses.
Later, the government refused to repay him the medical expense when he applied for reimbursement under Central Government Health Scheme. The Standing Committee of medical experts said that the implant was not necessary. Then he approached the forum.
The forum ordered the hospital to reimburse Rs 5,24,135 charged from him as medical expenses and Rs 2 lakh as compensation.