The state clinical establishment regulatory commission on Monday asked the Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI) to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation to the family of a woman who passed away at the hospital.
A doctor who was treating the 82-year-old at the hospital suggested a consultation with a pulmonologist.
The family waited for the pulmonologist to turn up for three days before calling on him in the outpatients department. The doctor told the family that he had not been informed by anyone to examine the patient.
“The doctor who was treating the woman had said on December 25 that a pulmonologist should examine the patient…. The family met the pulmonologist at the OPD on December 28, when he said that no one had informed him about the referral,” said retired judge Ashim Banerjee, chairperson of the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission.
The pulmonologist examined the patient on December 29 but her condition was very poor by then, said Banerjee. She passed away on December 30.
During Monday’s hearing, the hospital said they could not contact the pulmonologist because he was on leave.
“If a doctor is on leave, it is the hospital’s responsibility to arrange another doctor. In this case, the hospital should have arranged another pulmonologist or asked the patient’s family to arrange a pulmonologist. But they did neither. We have ordered a Rs 2-lakh compensation,” said Banerjee.
The commission also asked BM Birla Heart Research Centre to pay Rs 2 lakh in compensation to the family of an 82-year-old man as the commission found the hospital had not maintained proper records about his treatment.
The patient was brought to the hospital at 3pm on November 14, 2020, from Jhargram. When the patient’s family left the hospital at 6pm, his condition was fine.
The family said they received a call from the hospital at 9.30pm saying the patient had suffered a cardiac arrest at 9.15pm. The patient was eventually declared dead at 10.10pm.
“There were many questions that the hospital could not answer. The hospital said they attended the patient at 3.40pm, but records show the patient underwent an ECG at 3.35pm. Hospital said the patient’s condition worsened at 8.30pm. Patient party said they received a call from the hospital at 9.30pm. The hospital could not give any record as to when they called the patient’s family,” Banerjee said.
A spokesperson for CK Birla Hospitals, which owns both BM Birla and CMRI, said they were yet to receive the order.
“Once we receive the order, we will take the next course of action,” she said.