The Madras High Court today directed the Tamil Nadu Medical Council to decide one way or other on a complaint by a petitioner against MIOT Hospitals here but made it clear that the order shall not be taken as a reflection of the quality of services rendered by the Hospital.
Justice V Ramasubramanian was disposing of a petition filed by a patient Vijay, a permanent US resident who came here on vacation. On March 9,2008 he was admitted to MIOT Hospitals in a critical condition as he was unable to move from his bed but no doctor came to examine him, he alleged in his plea.
So his father got him discharged after paying Rs 40,000 and admitted him in another private hospital where he underwent neuro surgery and became a person with permanent disability, the petitioner said. Counsel for Irudayaraj said if doctors at MIOT had diagnosed properly in the golden hour, the damage to his condition could have been averted.
MIOT hospitals submitted that there was no negligence on their part and said it was a case of stroke caused by intra cranial bleeding and there was nothing like golden hour and medical advice.
The Medical Council in its counter said it cannot initiate action against hospitals and can only take action on individual doctors. It also said that negligence may not amount to professional misconduct.
The judge said "it is true that the council has no control over hospitals. Hospitals do not become the members of the council.This was why some of the hospitals were now owned by industrialists. While some medical professionals have themselves become industrialists in the field of medicine, no industrialist can really become a medical professional... Their (council) disciplinary control extends only over the individual doctors."
Rejecting the contention of the council that the negligence may not amount to professional misconduct, the judge said "Chapter 7 of the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations lists certain acts of commission and omission on the part of a physician as constituting professional misconduct."
The judge after directing the state medical council to look into the complaint said "I do not think any prejudice will be caused to the MIOT hospitals by directing the state medical council to consider the complaint..
