Chandigarh: ₹45-L relief for woman who lost daughter to shoddy dengue care

A mother’s fight for justice after her 19-year-old daughter’s death due to shoddy dengue treatment has culminated in accountability, with the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh, holding a private hospital and three of its doctors guilty of medical negligence, and awarding ₹45 lakh as compensation.

Setting aside an earlier order that had dismissed the complaint, the commission directed Ivy Hospital, Sector 71, Mohali, and its doctors to compensate the bereaved mother for the loss of her daughter, Gurpreet Kaur, a first-year BCom student at the Sector 50 government college.

The hospital and Dr Gurpreet Singh Babra have been directed to pay ₹10 lakh each, while Dr Chetan Goel and Dr Rajiv Dhunna have been ordered to pay ₹12.5 lakh each.

Gurpreet, who had scored 91.2% in Class 12 (commerce) and aspired to become an IAS officer, died on December 22, 2021, leaving behind her parents and two younger siblings.

Her mother, Kavita, had alleged that a series of medical lapses at Ivy Hospital led to her untimely death. The appeal was argued by advocate Deepak Aggarwal.

Allowing the plea, the commission found the hospital and its doctors deficient in service and guilty of negligence, while absolving Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH-16), Sector 16, Chandigarh, of any wrongdoing.

The commission identified multiple lapses in treatment at the private hospital, including delay in conducting dengue tests despite medical advice, improper monitoring of a central venous catheter, and failure to detect its malposition for nearly 32 hours. It also flagged the lack of timely response to the rapidly dropping platelet count, holding that these failures materially contributed to the deterioration of the patient’s condition.

It further noted that the hospital failed to provide complete medical records within the mandatory 72-hour period, instead furnishing them after more than two weeks.

During previous proceedings before the district commission, the hospital and doctors failed to file their reply within the stipulated time, leading to their defence being struck off.

Overturning the earlier dismissal of the mother’s complaint, the bench of presiding member Padma Pandey and member Rajesh K Arya stated that the complainant had suffered a void that can never be filled.

“In such circumstances, awarding fair and substantial compensation is not merely a financial exercise but an affirmation of accountability and the value the legal system places on human life. It serves both as restitution to the aggrieved family and as a reminder that medical institutions are bound by a duty of utmost care when entrusted with precious human lives,” the commission underscored.

Noting the magnitude of the loss, it remarked that the death of a 19-year-old was “not merely the loss of a patient; it is the extinguishing of a young life filled with promise, aspirations and potential to contribute meaningfully to her family and society”.

“At such a tender age, she stood at the threshold of adulthood, with her education, career and independent future unfolding ahead,” the commission said, recognising the emotional and financial investment made by the parents in their daughter’s upbringing.

“The parents, as natural guardians, had devoted years of love, care, emotional nurturing and substantial financial resources toward her upbringing, including expenses on education, healthcare, daily sustenance and the shaping of her ambitions, which were not only monetary but deeply personal and emotional rooted in the hope that she would flourish, support her family in due course and bring them pride and companionship in their advancing years,” the commission held.