Chennai: A woman has approached Madras high court seeking action against the doctors of a government hospital for misdiagnosing a tumor in her abdomen as a pregnancy. She also sought compensation of Rs 5 lakh.
Justice T. Raja, before whom the petition came up for hearing, has sought medical reports from the hospital and posted the matter after two weeks. According to the petitioner, Asina Begum, she was married in 2009. On April 11, 2016, she had gone to Kasturba Government Maternity Hospital, Triplicane, after she missed regular menstrual cycle. After conducting test doctors informed her that she was pregnant which brought joy to her and her family members as she was not pregnant for the last six years.
The doctors went to the extent of fixing November 18, 2016, as tentative delivery date. Soon the family members organized - ‘valaikappu’ ceremony for her on October 16, 2016.
As she had not developed any labour pains she went to hospital. Again the doctors, after taking a scan, said that baby was good condition and asked her wait for some more days.
However, she developed severe abdomen pain on November 21, 2016, and she was rushed to the hospital. To shock and surprise the doctors informed her doctors she was not pregnant and there was small tumor in her abdomen.
She alleged that staff removed some papers and reports from her case sheet and book. After developing suspicion over the act of the doctors and staff, she approached a private scan centre. It was identified that there was no evidence of intrauterine pregnancy and it was a small fibroid in the anterior wall of the uterus.
In the petition, she alleged that she was wrongly diagnosed by the doctors and she was unnecessarily put under medication for pregnancy. The doctors and staffs of the government hospital were negligent in the work. On January 9, 2017, she sent representation to the hospital authorities to compensate her and to take action on the erred doctors. Based on her petition, the National Human Rights Commission, which had also ordered notice to the above doctors.
