Bhubaneswar: The nursing home owned by radiologist Pratap Keshari Das and her wife Lipsa Das has been held negligent by the Jagatsinghpur District Consumer Court for failing to give a correct picture of the complainant child physical deformities during pregnancy despite three ultrasonography tests on the woman in different trimesters. The District Consumer Court awarded a compensation of Rs.10 Lakhs and directed the nursing home to make a fixed deposit of ₹10 lakh in the name of the child – born without a left leg and a right hand– in a bank account till he attains the age of 26. The nursing home owners were also asked to pay ₹50,000 to the woman for her mental agony and ₹4,000 towards the cost of litigation.
“Had the woman been informed about the disability of foetus then she could have aborted the foetus. It is because of good faith of the woman on the nursing home and their reports that she did not terminate the pregnancy and gave birth to a physical handicapped male child. The radiologist who conducted the ultrasound and issued reports without pointing out the deformity in the foetus not once but thrice could have pointed out. Giving wrong reports amounts to gross deficiency,” the consumer court said in its order, noting that “deformity cannot be compensated in shape of money”.