CALCUTTA, 8 April 2005 — An orthopedic surgeon has been ordered to pay Rs500,000 to a patient who lost his right arm because of the surgeon’s criminal negligence.
A consumer court yesterday directed Sajal Sarkar to pay half a million rupees as compensation to Shyamal Roy who is now undergoing vocational training in an institution for the physically handicapped.
The unprecedented verdict came after 12 long years of arguments and counterarguments by lawyers representing the surgeon and the victim’s family.
Twelve years ago, Shyamal — then barely five — was traveling on a bicycle with his father in Bankura town of West Bengal when he met with an accident.
Shyamal’s father, Dibyendu Roy, recalled: “My son hurt right arm very badly. He was in terrible pain when I took him to a local doctor, who referred me to orthopedic surgeon Sajal Sarkar for treatment. Little did I know that Shyamal would lose his arm just because of wrong diagnosis and faulty plaster.”
Sarkar diagnosed the boy’s condition as “a supra condular fracture of the right limb” and put a plaster cast around the boy’s broken arm.
For two days the pain did not subside. When the plaster was cut open, Dibyendu found that his son’s arm had turned dark. But Sarkar put it in a sling and sent him home.
Subsequently, specialists discovered that Shyamal’s arm tissues started decaying because the faulty plaster had played havoc with blood circulation in the limb.
To prevent the infection from spreading, the arm had to ultimately amputated.
Armed with specialists’ reports, Dibyendu filed a case against Sarkar in the consumer court.
After several years of legal wrangling, the court finally found Sarkar guilty of medical negligence and ordered him to pay Rs 500,000 to his victim.
Sarkar’s lawyer G.S. Pal, an advocate in Calcutta High Court, said: “We will appeal against the verdict. Other senior doctors in Calcutta had also examined the boy. So, my client is not responsible for his condition.”
Medical experts who deposed before the consumer court said unanimously that Sarkar’s wrong diagnosis resulted in the amputation — a tragedy which reduced Shyamal into a physically challenged person for no fault of his.
