Wife loses battle of life, octogenarian fights on for justice

Ishrat S Banwait

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 22

With his wife losing the battle of life while fighting an over decade-long battle for justice, the octogenarian husband, Jagjit Arora, is continuing with her mission. In 2005, his wife Indrajit had become a victim of medical negligence at a private hospital after which their life took a turn for the worse. Her last wish was to get justice so that the same thing did not happen to anyone else, and Jagjit has vowed to fight till his last breath.

Fighting the medical mafia, they braved threats and even physical attacks as the husband himself fought the case in the Supreme Court, the Punjab and Haryana High Court and now at the District Courts here.

Jagjit is a businessman. However, he has a law degree but has never practised as a lawyer. After he realised that lawyers were fleecing him and this would affect his case, he decided to contest the civil suits himself. Speaking to Chandigarh Tribune, he said, “I had never practised; so I had to study a lot. A lot of preparation was done before each hearing.”

The criminal case, however, is being fought with the help of advocate Harish Bhardwaj, for whom Jagjit expresses his gratitude. Jagjit exposed the racket that was being run by hospitals to earn money at the cost of patients.

The case

In 2005, the then 65-year-old Indrajit went to Inscol Hospital in Sector 34 to get a mole on her leg checked. Indrajit was physically fit at that time barring diabetes. Doctors there told her that she may have “pulmonary embolism” which is actually blood clotting in the lungs. Without proper tests, the hospital asked them to purchase a tissue plassiminogin activator injection to treat it, which cost Rs 81,600 at the time.

The high-potency injection is to be given by a qualified cardiologist in a medical facility which has a ventilator. However, the hospital ignored the procedure and Indrajit’s condition worsened. The hospital could not control the situation and asked them to take Indrajit to another private hospital, which they did. They spent over Rs 8 lakh there but her condition did not improve and she was referred to the PGI.

Indrajit stayed there for a month but was scarred for life. Her eyesight had deteriorated and her body had lost strength. A schoolteacher who had left her job to take care of her kids had to now begin a long legal battle with her husband.

The civil suits which began in 2007 were settled in April this year and Jagjit received around Rs 33 lakh as compensation in total. The criminal case against the then owners of the Inscol Hospital and the doctors is on at the District Courts here since 2008 and arguments are being heard. However, Indrajit died on August 14 this year.