Madras HC directs Chennai hospital to pay ₹40 lakh to patient whose sigmoid colon was punctured during surgery

The woman had approached the hospital for infertility treatment and the doctors had suggested a laproscopic surgery to remove a fibroid in her uterus and an adhesion in her abdomen

The Madras High Court has directed G.G. Hospital in Chennai to pay a compensation of ₹40 lakh with interest at the rate of 12% from 2014 to a Sri Lankan Tamil woman settled in France for having punctured her sigmoid colon, leading to leakage of faecal matter, while performing a laproscopic surgery. It was done while removing a fibroid in her uterus and an adhesion in her abdomen, as part of infertility treatment.

Justice G. Chandrasekharan decreed a civil suit filed by the patient Flora Madiazagane in 2014 and held that she was entitled to compensation for the “faulty” first surgery which led to performance of multiple surgeries subsequently.

Stating that the petitioner had suffered permanent disability associated with those surgeries and she could not lead a normal life, he said, she must be compensated for her pain and suffering.

The judge pointed out that the patient was 43 years old when she approached the hospital for infertility treatment and had already undergone two surgeries, three dilation and curettage (D&C) procedures and seven failed In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) procedures. Therefore, in all fairness, the doctors at G.G. Hospital ought to have discouraged her from taking the treatment in view of the possible complications, he said.

“However, they have not advised the plaintiff not to go ahead with the treatment, but rather found the plaintiff fit to undergo the surgery. Having found the plaintiff fit to undergo the surgery, the doctors should have taken extra caution while performing the surgery to find out whether adhesions were properly removed and whether any injury was caused to other body parts, during the course of surgery,” the judge wrote.

“If any injury is caused to other body parts, like in this case, perforation to sigmoid colon, immediate steps should have been taken to plug/to close the perforation. Unfortunately, that was not done,” he added.

The faulty first surgery performed on May 15, 2013 had necessitated the performance of an open surgery on May 18, 2013 when a colostomy bag was fixed outside the patient’s body for collecting the faecal matter.