MOHALI — In a landmark judgment addressing professional accountability and consumer safety within the healthcare sector, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has held a Kharar-based private medical facility and its operating surgeon guilty of gross medical negligence. The court determined that a large piece of cotton surgical gauze had been carelessly left inside a woman’s abdomen during a major uterus operation. This major clinical oversight caused a life-threatening internal infection, eventually forcing a second emergency operation to remove a substantial portion of the victim’s digestive tract. Consequently, the consumer panel ordered the hospital and the operating doctor to jointly pay a combined financial penalty of ₹19.50 lakh.
The legal proceedings trace their roots back to a medical case where the complainant had initially approached the medical establishment, identified as S K Hospital and Diagnostic Centre in Kharar, after experiencing chronic and persistent abdominal discomfort. Following a diagnostic assessment, the patient was advised to undergo an invasive uterus surgery, which was subsequently performed by the treating specialist, Dr Gunraj.
According to official case details, the patient’s physical condition began to rapidly and severely deteriorate almost immediately after her formal medical discharge from the Kharar hospital. Despite following standard post-operative care routines, she experienced agonizing, unremitting pain in her stomach area. Seeking immediate relief, the patient relocated to Sonipat, where her condition grew progressively worse, prompting her family to urgently admit her to an entirely separate tertiary care hospital on December 6, 2020.
Upon conducting emergency exploratory procedures, the treating medical team at the second hospital made a shocking discovery. A massive cotton surgical gauze, which had been utilized during the initial uterus operation in Kharar, had been left completely sealed inside the patient’s abdominal cavity. Over the intervening weeks, the retained foreign object had catalyzed a massive, deep-seated internal infection. To halt the spreading rot and save the patient’s life, surgeons had no choice but to perform a highly complex resection, surgically removing approximately 2.5 feet of her damaged intestine. Furthermore, the patient suffered the severe physical indignity and discomfort of being fitted with an external medical stool bag for a prolonged duration during her recovery phase.
Aggrieved by the traumatic physical suffering and the massive unexpected financial burden, the victim approached the consumer commission seeking punitive damages for deficiency in professional service and medical malpractice. During the extensive trial, the bench meticulously analyzed the comprehensive medical logs, surgical checklists, and independent diagnostic evidence presented by the complainant’s legal counsel.
Delivering the final verdict, the court of Consumer Commission President Kuljeet Pal Singh explicitly noted that leaving any foreign cotton material inside a patient’s body during an invasive surgical procedure constitutes an absolute and indefensible breach of a doctor’s professional duty of care. The commission ruled that both the operating physician and the medical facility shared equal liability for failing to implement mandatory post-surgical instrument and sponge counting protocols.
In its detailed breakdown of the financial award, the District Consumer Court ordered the opposite parties to jointly pay a sum of ₹9.25 lakh strictly toward reimbursing the patient’s secondary medical and surgical expenses. Additionally, the bench awarded ₹10 lakh to the complainant as direct compensation for the profound mental agony and physical trauma she was forced to endure. Finally, the hospital and doctor were ordered to pay ₹25,000 to cover the total litigation expenditures incurred by the victim. The panel specified that the financial components must be cleared within 45 days along with an annual interest rate, failing which a higher penalty rate would be enforced.
