Premier cancer institute asked to pay Rs 5 L for negligence

“It goes without saying that when a person decides to be treated in such an institution, it is with the expectation of higher quality of treatment and care...In this view, we do not consider it appropriate to reduce the quantum of compensation (Rs 5 lakh) as awarded by the State Commission,” the bench, also comprising members Vineeta Rai and Vinay Kumar, said.

It noted that the conduct of the two doctors “clearly falls below the standard of an ordinary competent person exercising ordinary skill in that profession”. 

The bench was hearing an appeal by the hospital against the State Commission's 2008 order directing the institute and the two doctors to pay the compensation to Dahiya. 

Dahiya had stated that in 1999, he had taken his wife Krishna Kumari, who was suffering from cancer of the cervix, to the institute for a second opinion, after having her radiation therapy done at a hospital in Rohtak. Doctors at the Institute performed surgery on her and discharged her, he said.