NEW DELHI: A doctor running a dental clinic in east Delhi has been asked to pay Rs 1.15 lakh as compensation to a patient for conducting a faulty surgery in 2011, due to which the victim suffered injuries to her tongue and still has difficulty speaking.
The East District Consumer forum held Dr Priya Balani guilty of negligence while treating Meena Parihar and said Parihar was treated like a "guinea pig". While ordering compensation for Parihar, the forum also rejected the expert advice given by a panel from Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences (MAIDS) and said the board, instead of assisting the forum in reaching the right conclusion, misled it only "to shield" members of the medical fraternity.
The forum bench, presided by N A Zaidi, also referred the case to the Dental Council of India (DCI) recommending strong action against Balani and members of the expert board from (MAIDS). "Let a copy of this order be sent to the DCI president to initiate strict action against the doctor...and those part of the expert team from MAIDS who tried to mislead this forum," the bench said.
Parihar had approached Balani on June 8, 2011 with pain in her wisdom tooth. Balani advised surgery to remove the tooth. After the procedure on June 10, 2011, Parihar's pain worsened and the tooth adjoining the wisdom tooth also began hurting. Balani told Parihar the pain would reduce automatically after a month's time and prescribed some medicines, Parihar told the forum.
However, the pain became unbearable and she approached doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital for a second opinion, Parihar said in her complaint. After conducting X-rays, doctors from both hospitals told her that only half her wisdom tooth had been extracted and the improper surgery had caused the numbness in the right side of her tongue and injury to another tooth.
Following this, Parihar had to undergo corrective surgery that cost Rs 20,000. She submitted before the forum that she is still suffering on account to the botched first surgery and needs to undergo further treatment, which will cost around Rs 50,000, to repair the damage.
The forum agreed with Parihar's contentions after relying on reports from AIIMS and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. "There is no room for doubt left that the respondent was highly negligent in administering treatment to the complainant which caused agonizing pain and resulted in numbness of the right side of her tongue. We strongly feel that dentists, like the respondent, who treat their patients like guinea pigs under the guise of treating them and practice their skills on them, even when they do not posses any, should be barred from practicing as a dentist by the Dental Council of India," the forum observed.
The East District Consumer forum held Dr Priya Balani guilty of negligence while treating Meena Parihar and said Parihar was treated like a "guinea pig". While ordering compensation for Parihar, the forum also rejected the expert advice given by a panel from Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences (MAIDS) and said the board, instead of assisting the forum in reaching the right conclusion, misled it only "to shield" members of the medical fraternity.
The forum bench, presided by N A Zaidi, also referred the case to the Dental Council of India (DCI) recommending strong action against Balani and members of the expert board from (MAIDS). "Let a copy of this order be sent to the DCI president to initiate strict action against the doctor...and those part of the expert team from MAIDS who tried to mislead this forum," the bench said.
Parihar had approached Balani on June 8, 2011 with pain in her wisdom tooth. Balani advised surgery to remove the tooth. After the procedure on June 10, 2011, Parihar's pain worsened and the tooth adjoining the wisdom tooth also began hurting. Balani told Parihar the pain would reduce automatically after a month's time and prescribed some medicines, Parihar told the forum.
However, the pain became unbearable and she approached doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital for a second opinion, Parihar said in her complaint. After conducting X-rays, doctors from both hospitals told her that only half her wisdom tooth had been extracted and the improper surgery had caused the numbness in the right side of her tongue and injury to another tooth.
Following this, Parihar had to undergo corrective surgery that cost Rs 20,000. She submitted before the forum that she is still suffering on account to the botched first surgery and needs to undergo further treatment, which will cost around Rs 50,000, to repair the damage.
The forum agreed with Parihar's contentions after relying on reports from AIIMS and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. "There is no room for doubt left that the respondent was highly negligent in administering treatment to the complainant which caused agonizing pain and resulted in numbness of the right side of her tongue. We strongly feel that dentists, like the respondent, who treat their patients like guinea pigs under the guise of treating them and practice their skills on them, even when they do not posses any, should be barred from practicing as a dentist by the Dental Council of India," the forum observed.
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