No negligence without proof of culpable lapse: State Consumer Commission

The Punjab State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has held that doctors or hospitals can be held liable for medical negligence only where their conduct falls below the standards of a reasonably competent practitioner in the field. Setting aside compensation of Rs 5 lakh awarded to a complainant by the District Commission in a case of alleged medical negligence, the Commission categorically ruled that negligence must be “culpable or gross” and could not be inferred merely from an error of judgment.

Presiding Judicial Member HPS Mahal and member Kiran Sibal observed that the complainant had failed to establish any deficiency in service or negligence on the part of the treating doctors by way of cogent evidence.

Speaking for the Commission, member Sibal held that the District Commission wrongly allowed the complaint without properly appreciating the evidence on record. The matter arose from the death of the complainant’s wife, who was suffering from adenocarcinoma (cancer) and had been under treatment at Sandhu Cancer Care Center, Ludhiana, under Dr Devinder Singh Sandhu. She remained admitted to the hospital as indoor patient.

She was admitted to Raman Hospital, Ludhiana, in March 2015, where she underwent “sigmoid colectomy” but developed an “anastomotic leak”. Subsequently, she was admitted to another hospital, where she underwent “exploratory laparotomy with colostomy” and was diagnosed with “peritonitis". Her condition deteriorated and she died at DMC Hospital, Ludhiana, on April 23, 2015.

Her husband alleged that negligence during treatment led to her death and filed a consumer complaint, which the District Commission allowed in September 2022. The Commission directed the doctor and the two medical institutes to pay Rs 5 lakh with 4 per cent interest from the date of death, besides Rs 5,000 as litigation costs. This order was challenged through two separate appeals by the doctors and institutes.

Allowing the appeals, the State Commission stressed that the onus was on the complainant to prove negligence but no medical expert evidence was produced.

“The question of skill of the doctors and even the procedure/treatment adopted in the hospital was not under challenge. No adverse finding is on record in the shape of medical expert opinion to show any deficiency or negligence,” the order recorded.

Member Sibal observed that the medical board constituted by PGI, Chandigarh, had expressed its inability to reach a definitive opinion due to incomplete medical records, which the complainant himself had failed to supply. The commission asserted that negligence must be “culpable or gross” to sustain a finding of liability.

Sequel to the findings, the Commission allowed the appeals Sandhu Cancer Care Center and Dr Devinder Singh Sandhu as well as Raman Hospital. The order of the District Commission was set aside in both cases.

Why the ruling matters

The ruling, delivered by Presiding Judicial Member HPS Mahal and Member Kiran Sibal, makes it clear that liability for medical negligence cannot rest on assumptions but must be established through cogent expert evidence and proof of gross lapses in treatment.