Press Release Summary = Doctor loses guard, patient his sight
Press Release Body = For the past many months, it has been a miserable existence for 80-year-old Narinder Singh, a victim of gross medical negligence.
'I am not too unhappy with the court compensation, but I cannot fight fate'
Instead of operating upon the right eye for a corneal correction, the doctor operator upon his left eye. As he was already blind in the right eye, the error left the Jalandhar based patient totally blind.
Even the announcement of a compensation of around Rs 1 lakh by the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh, has failed to bring a smile to his face. For the senior citizen, who used to run a grocery shop, the world is now restricted to his house in jalandhar.
Shattered, he told the Chandigarh Tribune that he was now dependent on a servant for day-to-day needs.
He said the commission headed by Justice KC Gupta (Retd) penalized the doctor when approached by him. Holding Dr. Ashok Sharma of Cornea Centre, Sector 22, responsible the negligence, it directed the doctor to refund Rs. 38, 500 charged from the complainant.
In his application to the commission, Narinder Singh averred that on August 17, 2006, he approached Dr Ashok Sharma for getting his right eye treated. After being examined, he was told that after an operation, his right eye would be normal and he would be able to see with glasses.
On subsequent checkups, a number of tests were conducted at Medicos Centre and Mirchia Laser Eye Clinic. On August 25, the doctors informed the son of the victim that he had been operated upon the wrong eye. He was then assured that after some days, the right eye would be operated upon. In the meantime the wrongly operated left eye developed an infection.
The left eye had to be removed and the victim became visually impaired.
2022
