Madurai: In a significant development, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has directed a medical officer at Government Medical College, Thoothukudi, to pay Rs 60,000 as compensation to a patient whose sterilisation procedure failed, resulting in an unplanned pregnancy.
The Court, while considering a plea alleging medical negligence during a tubectomy, observed that the Government had already passed an order on May 31, 2022, quantifying the compensation amount at Rs 60,000 for failed sterilisation cases.
Justice V. Lakshminarayan, who presided over the matter, stated:
“In a writ petition dealing with medical negligence, unless and until the facts stare at the face of the respondents, this Court should not venture into a detailed discussion on medical aspects. However, taking note of the government order quantifying compensation, a direction is issued to pay Rs 60,000 to the petitioner’s wife within two weeks.”
Background of the Case
The petitioner’s wife, already a mother of two, underwent a tubal ligation procedure at GMC Thoothukudi on March 21, 2018, after which she was discharged. However, to the couple’s shock, she was diagnosed with pregnancy again and eventually delivered a third child on July 3, 2021. She later underwent another sterilisation at AVM Hospital.
The petitioner claimed that the second pregnancy occurred solely due to negligence during the initial sterilisation, and sought compensation from the responsible medical officer. After not receiving a favorable response from the Government to his representation in March 2022, he approached the High Court.
Government’s Response
The Government Advocate argued that tubal ligation carries an inherent failure rate, with approximately 1 in 200 women potentially becoming pregnant again. It was asserted that the procedure had not failed due to negligence, but possibly due to natural re-canalisation of fallopian tubes over time.
Despite this, the government conceded that a standard compensation of Rs 30,000 was applicable under earlier policy (as per G.O(Ms) No. 150, dated 28.05.2014). However, a more recent G.O(Ms) No. 173 dated 31.05.2022 had revised this amount to Rs 60,000, which the Court enforced.
The Court has listed the matter for compliance on April 17, 2025.
