KUMARASAMY HOSPITAL Vs. STATE COMPETENT AUTHORITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed this writ petition seeking issuance of Writ of Certiorari calling upon the records of the entire proceedings in Proc. No. 7868 / CEA / 2021 on the file of the 2nd respondent and quash the order dtd. 18/10/2021 passed by the 2nd respondent.

(2.) The case of the petitioner is that the petitioner Hospital was established in the year 1985 and the said Hospital is offering excellent patient care for the past 35 years with well qualified doctors and it offers a number of medical services and have an unblemished record of service for the past 35 years. The allegation against the petitioner is that one patient named Kiruthika aged 23 years was brought to the Kumarasamy Hospital on 18/7/2020 and she was 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant. The doctor named Sangeetha examined her and found that her vitals were stable. At about 4 pm, due to non progress of labour, Dr. Sangeetha decided for a Caesarean Surgery and the patient was shifted to the operation theatre, where she delivered a live girl baby at 8.48 p.m and the baby girl was healthy and there was no sign of abnormality to the patient. When the said Doctor treating another pregnant patient, it was informed to her that the patient Kiruthika went in for sudden cardiac arrest. After first aid treatment, she was shifted to another hospital for intense cardiac monitoring, which is about 2 kms from the petitioner hospital in a fully equipped ambulance. Inspite of the doctors effort, the patient went in for cardiac arrest and declared dead at 4.30 am on 19/7/2020. After the death of the patient Kiruthika, the new born girl baby was brought to the petitioner Hospital and kept under observation on the same day. While being so, the relatives of the patient wanted an explanation regarding the death of the patient and the doctors also gave a satisfactory explanation. After six months, suddenly on 4/2/2021, the husband of the patient, wrote a letter to the District Secretary, Erode District Consumer Protection Centre, alleging that his wife died due to medical negligence of the doctors and requested to take action, for which the said Dr. Sangeetha wrote a detailed reply denying the allegations and as the said reply was satisfactory, the husband of the deceased did not follow up with the complaint.

(3.) While such being the position, one Mr. Senthilmurugan wrote a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), New Delhi, alleging that the death of the patient Kiruthika was due to the medical negligence of the said Doctor. Upon receiving the complaint, NHRC forwarded the same to the Joint Director of Health Services, Erode and Director of Medical and Rural Health Services, Chennai. The Director of Medical and Rural Health Services, Chennai, vide letter dtd. 13/10/2021, has requested the Tamil Nadu Medical Council to take action against the persons responsible for the death of the patient and thereby, the Registrar of Tamil Nadu Medical Council issued summons dtd. 15/10/2021, directing the Doctors who treated the patient, to appear before them on 21/10/2021 at 10 am at the office of the Tamil Nadu Medical Council, Arumbakkam, Chennai. In the meantime, the Competent Authority, under the Tamil Nadu Clinical Establishments (Regulation) Act, 1997, issued a notice to the Kumarasamy Hospital on 15/10/2021, calling upon the said Doctor to appear for enquiry, and pursuant to the said notice, the said Doctor appeared before the District Competent Authority. However, the District Competent Authority, without giving any adequate time to her explanation and without following the principles of natural justice, passed an order to suspend the registration granted to Kumarasamy Hospital. Aggrieved by the same the present Writ Petition is filed.