GTB to pay for 'negligence'

A consumer forum has directed the Delhi government, GTB Hospital and its two doctors to pay over Rs 5 lakh to the kin of a 56-year-old man, who died of oral cancer due to the doctors' “negligence” in providing proper and timely treatment.

The East District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in Delhi, presided over by N K Goel, directed the government, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and its two doctors to pay Rs 5.26 lakh to the family members of Jaipal Singh who died in 2007 due to lack of proper treatment.

Negligence on part of the two doctors and their employers – GTB Hospital and the Delhi government – in providing proper medical treatment led to the death of Singh, said the forum, also comprising its members Asha Kumar and Nishant Ahmad Alvi.

The forum also said the hospital and its two doctors had failed to discharge the burden of proving that there was no lack of care and diligence, and that they had provided the best treatment to the victim by exercising their prudence and reasonableness.

The forum passed the order on a complaint of Dilshad Garden resident Singh’s wife Ramo Devi and their three children against the hospital, the two doctors and the Delhi government.

The woman told the forum that her husband was employed with the Public Works Department and was posted as a gardener at GTB Hospital. Singh consulted the doctors at GTB Hospital when he observed some problems in his mouth in April 2005, and was diagnosed with oral cavity cancer, the complaint said.

It said the doctors and the hospital did not give him timely treatment and after much delay, in July 2005, Singh was referred to the LNJP Hospital. Thereafter, Singh approached the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Hospital in Delhi for treatment.

He died on February 21, 2007.