NHRC notice to TN govt for wrong diagnosis

The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu government for alleged medical negligence by a hospital in Chennai in wrongly diagnosing a woman as pregnant.

The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a November 23 media report about the incident wherein the 28-year-old woman was first wrongly diagnosed as pregnant by Kasturi Bai Government General Maternity Hospital, and after eight months was diagnosed to have a tumour instead.

"Taking a serious view of the reported incident, the Commission has issued notices to the Secretary (Health Department), Government of Tamil Nadu and Director, Kasturi Bai Government General Maternity Hospital, Chennai calling for reports within two weeks," it said in a statement.
 

As per the media report, the woman, a resident of Kannagi Nagar, had gone to the hospital for pregnancy check-up in April. She was diagnosed as "pregnant" by the hospital authorities.

"The woman was informed that her tentative delivery would be after eight months and the expected date of delivery would be November 8. She was put under necessary medication for the development of a healthy child," the NHRC said quoting from the report.

"As she did not develop any delivery pain even after the due date, she went to the hospital and a scanning was done. She was informed that she was not pregnant and there was a small tumour," it said.

The Commission termed the episode a "classic case of medical negligence" and "failed to understand how the doctors were unable to notice even the physical growth of the baby for eight months, let alone decide from the physical appearance of the woman."

"The above facts show a total callous attitude in the diagnosis of the woman, who was not only given a positive report for the pregnancy, but was also made to consume a number of medicines during the period of eight months," the NHRC said.

The rights body also observed that women were still deprived of the right to get genuine treatment at state-run hospitals.

Correct diagnosis is the human right of a patient. The doctors and other staff involved in the treatment of the woman in question appear to be "negligent", thus had violated human rights of the woman and caused "unimaginable" mental agony to her, the Commission added.