Surgeons are known to accidentally leave a piece of surgical equipment inside a patient’s body after an operation. But, in a case before the city consumer court, it was a dentist who forgot a part of an instrument used for a root canal inside the tooth of a patient, forcing her to get the tooth removed permanently.
The case came before the City Urban 3rd Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum. In her complaint, Ms Ashwini, a resident of Kengeri, said that she had approached Dr C. Gowri Shankar, owner of Vajra Dental Care Centre, Kengeri, seeking treatment for her toothache. Dr Gowri Shankar advised a root canal which could be done in one sitting. After the treatment, Ms Ashwini experienced more pain in the tooth and once again approached the dentist. On examination, Dr Shankar realised that the root canal was not properly done and instructed another visiting dentist to perform the procedure again. The second dentist charged `6000 for three sittings.
However, even after the second root canal, Ms Ashwini continued to suffer acute and unbearable pain in her tooth. The dentist expressed his inability to treat her further. She then went to another dentist, Dr Manjunath Prasad, who took an x-ray of the tooth, which revealed that a piece of an instrument used in the root canal treatment was lodged in the middle of the tooth and it was this that was causing the severe pain. There was no alternative but to remove the tooth, Dr Manjunath Prasad told her. The extraction cost her Rs 1,500. Ms Ashwini held Dr Gowri Shankar responsible for the negligence of his dentist and asked him to return the Rs 6,000 he had charged her and to pay Rs 1,500 for the extraction she had to undergo. After some persuasion, he agreed to pay half the amount and issued a cheque for Rs 3,000 drawn on Karnataka Bank.
But when Ms Ashwini presented the cheque through Corporation Bank on April 23, 2012 it was dishonoured. The consumer court was Ms Ashwini’s next stop. The court has directed Dr Gowri Shankar to pay `11,500 to Ms Ashwini as compensation, plus the amount spent by her for further treatment, and `3000 for the cost she had incurred in the proceedings.