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Bijoy Sinha Roy (D) By Lr. v. Biswanath Das & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2017 INSC 826Decided 30 Aug 2017
Civil Appeal No. 4761 of 2009
Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel · Justice Uday Umesh Lalit

Background

The appellant's wife developed uterine fibroids in 1993 and, after delayed emergency surgery performed without first controlling her high blood pressure and anaemia, lost consciousness; because the nursing home had no ICU, she was shifted between facilities and died weeks later. Her husband's consumer complaint alleged medical negligence both in the decision to operate without stabilizing her first and in choosing a nursing home lacking post-operative ICU facilities. The State Commission had awarded compensation, but the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) reversed that finding and dismissed the complaint, prompting this appeal (by the deceased's legal heirs, since the original appellant had since died).

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court upheld the NCDRC's view that the doctors' clinical decision to operate, by itself, did not amount to medical negligence, applying the established test from Jacob Mathew v. State of Punjab: a doctor following an accepted medical practice is not negligent merely because a better alternative existed, and error of judgment is not proof of negligence. However, the Court found that neither the State Commission nor the NCDRC had actually examined the separate and more serious complaint that the surgery was performed at a nursing home lacking ICU facilities despite a foreseeable post-operative risk. Rather than remanding the 23-year-old case for fresh fact-finding, the Court directed Dr. Biswanath Das (OP No. 1) to pay Rs. 5 lakh to the deceased's heirs without interest, to be deposited with the State Commission within three months. The Court also used the judgment to flag systemic delays in consumer fora and urged the National Commission to set up speedy-disposal monitoring and make greater use of ADR/mediation under Section 89 CPC.

Lesson Learnt

A clinical judgment call by a doctor is not automatically negligence, but a separate failure, such as choosing a facility without adequate emergency infrastructure for a foreseeable complication, can still attract liability even where the primary treatment decision is upheld; courts may award a practical, final compensation figure rather than send a decades-old case back for yet more fact-finding.

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

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