NEW DELHI: An Indian doctor in America has been awarded a record compensation of nearly six crores by the Supreme Court for a case of medical negligence that resulted in his wife’s death.
Dr Kunal Saha, who is based in Ohio, travelled to Kolkata with his wife, Anuradha, in 1998 from the US. She died after contracting a rare skin disease which was treated by the Advanced Medicare and Research Institute or AMRI hospital.
The court today ordered three doctors who attended to her to collectively pay 25 lakhs of the compensation. The entire amount of 5 crores and 96 lakhs has to be given to Dr Saha within eight weeks, the judges said.
Anuradha, a child psychologist and graduate of Columbia University in New York, contracted toxic epidermal necrolysis while in India but was badly diagnosed and given an overdose of steroids.
In 2009, the Supreme Court agreed with the charges of gross negligence levelled by Dr Saha against AMRI and its doctors.
The court then asked the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission or NCDRC – to determine how much compensation he should get. The consumer court settled on 1.7 crores, but Dr Saha appealed against that. Today’s Supreme Court judgement has been delivered 15 years after Anuradha died.
Dr Saha has turned into a campaigner against negligence in India. In 2007 he highlighted how corruptly procured blood testing kits financed by the World Bank were leading to HIV-contaminated blood being used in Indian hospitals.
