The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has imposed a Rs 1.5 crore fine on a private hospital in Delhi and the doctors concerned for a mix up which resulted in the sperm of a wrong person being used during an Assisted Reproductive Technique (ART) procedure performed on a couple.
The couple moved the commission claiming Rs 2 crore as compensation for negligence and deficiency in service.
The top consumer commission came down hard on ART clinics that have mushroomed in recent years and where “unethical practices” were “rampant”. It said there was a need for their accreditation, besides making it mandatory for them to issue the DNA profile of the newborn babies. The commission was hearing a complaint by the couple, according to which the wife gave birth to twins in June 2009 through an ART procedure. However, as the blood group of the babies was not in consonance with the genetic transmission of possible blood groups from parents to the baby, a paternity test or DNA profile was conducted later which revealed the husband was not the biological father of the twins.
The couple moved the commission claiming Rs 2 crore as compensation for negligence and deficiency in service which created several issues for them, including emotional stress, family discord, and fear of genetically inherited diseases. “In my view, the instant case is of deceptive and unfair trade practices adopted by the opposite parties (OPs) who have forgotten professional ethics. Thus, opposite parties 1-3 (the hospital, its director, and chairman); also, the opposite parties 4-6 (three doctors) are liable for the act of negligence and unfair trade practices…I fix the total lump sum liability of Rs 1.5 crore against the OPs,” Presiding Member S M Kantikar said in a recent order.
Taking cues from various Supreme Court judgments about “just and adequate compensation”, the court directed Bhatia Global Hospital and Endosurgery Institute and its Chairman and Director to jointly pay Rs 1 crore as compensation. They were also asked to deposit Rs 20 lakh in the consumer legal aid account of NCDRC.
The other three accused, which included doctors of the hospital, were directed to pay Rs 10 lakh each to the complainants. The court said the failure to pay the compensation within a period of six weeks would attract a penalty of 8% interest per annum. The court said Rs. 1.3 crores collected as compensation would be deposited in the form of Fixed Deposits (FDs) for the twins, with both entitled to a share of 50% each. The parents are permitted to withdraw interest in the care and welfare of the children, the court added.
While the various accused blamed each other, alleging “collusion” between one of the accused and the complainants, the court held all of them collectively responsible for indulging in “unfair trade practices”.
(With inputs from agencies
