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Harnek Singh vs. Gurmit Singh

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 583Decided 18 May 2022
Civil Appeal Nos. 4126-4127 of 2022
Uday Umesh Lalit · S. Ravindra Bhat · Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha

Background

The appellant's wife, a 47-year-old government teacher, underwent laparoscopic gall bladder surgery performed by Dr. Gurmit Singh (Respondent 1) at his hospital. After the surgery she developed abdominal pain, distension and a foul discharge from her drain; she was later shifted to another hospital under Dr. Atul Mishra (Respondent 3), where a bowel perforation and bile duct injury were eventually diagnosed, but she died about two weeks after the original surgery. The complainant's consumer complaint succeeded before the State Commission (which held Dr. Singh and his hospital negligent) but was reversed by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), which found no negligence proved; the complainants appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that the NCDRC's decision focused mainly on reciting general legal principles on medical negligence without engaging with the actual evidence, and crucially ignored the Medical Council of India's Ethics Committee report, which, based on opinions from senior surgery professors at AIIMS and KGMC, found that Dr. Singh had failed to exercise adequate medical competence, ignored clear warning signs of a post-operative complication, and thereby caused avoidable delay in diagnosing the bowel perforation. Dr. Singh's own cross-examination admission that intra-operative injury "did not occur to my mind" reinforced this finding. The Court held this amounted to medical negligence and deficiency of service by Dr. Singh and his hospital, restored liability against them (while agreeing that Respondents 3 and 4, the second hospital and doctor, were not negligent), set aside the NCDRC's ruling, and directed payment of Rs. 25,00,000 compensation with 6% interest (9% if not paid within six months).

Lesson Learnt

In medical negligence cases, findings of a statutory professional regulator like the Medical Council of India carry significant evidentiary weight and cannot be ignored by consumer fora; a doctor's failure to heed clear post-operative warning signs and act promptly can constitute actionable negligence even where the original surgical technique is not directly at fault.

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

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