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Bherulal Bhimaji Oswal (D) By LRs. vs Madhusudan N. Kumbhare

Not available · 2024 INSC 1035Decided 19 Dec 2024
Not available
Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Prasanna B. Varale

Background

The complainant (now represented by his legal heirs after his death) underwent a cataract operation on his right eye performed by the respondent, an eye surgeon, in Pune in January 1999. In the days following surgery, the patient suffered escalating pain and complications, but the respondent-doctor repeatedly reassured him the operation was successful. When the pain became unbearable, three independent specialists diagnosed a severe eye infection (endophthalmitis); by the time it was treated at a military hospital, the eye was already damaged beyond repair and the patient permanently lost vision in that eye. His consumer complaint for compensation was dismissed by the District Forum, allowed in part by the State Commission (which awarded Rs. 3,50,000), and then reversed by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), which attributed the infection to the patient's own alleged tampering with his bandage.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court restored the State Commission's finding of medical negligence. It found that the respondent-doctor's written defence (that the patient had trauma from a self-applied bandage) was unsupported: his case papers corroborating this were filed only belatedly at the appellate stage and contained no actual record of trauma on the relevant date. A medical expert's opinion, produced before the State Commission, established that pus discharge and continued pain/vision loss after cataract surgery are hallmark signs of a treatable infection that needed urgent, aggressive management: signs the respondent failed to act on despite five visits by the suffering patient over about a week. The Court held this amounted to a clear failure to diagnose and treat post-operative infection, restored the State Commission's compensation award of Rs. 3,50,000 with 12% interest, and set aside the NCDRC's order.

Lesson Learnt

A doctor who receives repeated, worsening complaints from a post-operative patient has a duty to investigate and treat promptly rather than simply reassure the patient: failure to do so, especially without documentary proof of any alternative explanation, can constitute actionable medical negligence.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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