Two doctors of a private hospital here were awarded six-month jail term by a Delhi court for “gross negligence,” which led to the death of a 13-year-old boy after a tonsillitis surgery in 1995.
Holding ENT surgeon Omkar Parmar and anaesthetist Nripendra Nath Dutta guilty under Section 304-A (Causing death by rash and negligent act) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), additional sessions judge (ASJ) D.K. Sharma said, “Had the doctors taken care, the death (of Gaurav Batra) could have been prevented easily. In fact, with a heavy heart, I would say that such experienced doctors failed to do something... They were grossly negligent in the conduct of operation and post-operative care.”
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.5 lakh each on both the doctors, apart from the jail term. The court dismissed the doctors’ appeals against the judgment of a metropolitan magistrate by which they were awarded two years jail term in the case. Gaurav, who was suffering from tonsillitis, was admitted to the hospital by his father P.K. Batra on June 13, 1995 after being advised by the ENT surgeon to undergo a minor operation. Within hours of the surgery, the victim turned blue and died. To the utter shock of Gaurav’s father, the post-mortem report revealed that the victim died of excessive bleeding and suffocation which was the consequence of “negligent surgery”.
The accused doctors, however, took the plea that the child had succumbed to the nature’s savagery which was beyond human control.
The court said, “The evidence, on record, read along with the findings of the post-mortem amply indicate that degree of negligence of the accused was of very high degree.”