G.K.AGGARWAL Vs. LALIT SAYAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The complainant/respondent met with a road accident near Village Sampla of Rohtak in Haryana on 30.11.1993. After first aid given to him at Bahadurgarh Civil Hospital, he was admitted in respondent No.2 Sunder Lal Jain Hospital on 30.11.1993 itself. He having suffered a fracture in his left Tibia, respondent No.3 Dr. K.K. Ghai applied a plaster on his leg, on the same day. Since the complainant felt loss of sensation in his left leg, a slit on the plaster was made by Dr. K.K. Ghai and late Dr. S.B. Pandey of Sunder Lal Jain Hospital on 2.12.1993, in order to loosen the plaster. The Electro diagnosis done on 4.12.1993 having revealed sensory loss in the nerve distribution of the left Tibia and paralysis of the Peroneal and Tibial nerves, he contacted the appellant Dr. G.K Aggarwal who admitted him in Parmarth Mission Hospital and removed the excessive pus collection on the soft tissue by making an incision and draining the pus. Installation of a splint was advised to the complainant at the time of his discharge from Parmarth Mission Hospital. On 14.1.1994, the complainant was again hospitalized and Dr. G.K. Aggarwal performed another surgery/procedure on his left leg. The Tibia of the left leg of the complainant was left exposed after the said surgery. This is also the case of the complainant that at the time of performing surgery on him on 4.1.1994, the appellant Dr. G.K. Aggarwal had not removed the plate which had been inserted at the time of his first surgery at Sunder Lal Jain Hospital, though the said plate had got badly infected by that time. Yet another grievance of the complainant is that the PVC Splint had caused a big sore on his left leg and had withered away a part of his left heel.

(2.) On 28.2.1994, the complainant was admitted in RML Hospital where he was operated upon by Dr. A.K. Khare on 11.3.1994. According to the complainant at the time he was admitted in RML Hospital on 28.2.1994, he was having a big wound on the Anterolateral Aspect of the leg, which was full of pus discharge, his Tibia bone was fully exposed at that time and the plate was visible. There was also a pressure sore on the left heel caused by PVC Splint which he had put on the advice of Dr. G.K. Aggarwal and Parmarth Mission Hospital.

(3.) In RML Hospital, Debridement and Sequestrectomy was done under anesthesia and the infected surgical plate was removed besides drilling his Tibia. A window had to be made in the Tibia which got shortened. The complainant remained in RML Hospital for about two months and according to him, for five months he was bound in a Fixator, which came to be removed only on 31.8.94. His leg angiography was done in Pant Hospital in September, 1994. The complainant was diagnosed as a case of Compartment Syndrome and Chronic Osteomyelitis. It is alleged that though the fractured bone of the complainant got united, his left leg has become shorter by 1.5 inch, the discharge of the pus continues and he can now walk only at a slow pace. Alleging negligence in his treatment by the doctors, the complainant approached the concerned State Commission by way of a consumer complaint impleading Sunder Lal Jain Hospital, Dr. K.K. Ghai, Dr. S.B. Pandey, Dr. G.K. Aggarwal, Parmarth Mission Hospital, Dr. Chander Prakash of Sunder Lal Jain Hospital and Dr. N.K. Aggarwal of Sunder Lal Jain Hospital as the opposite parties in the consumer complaint.