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Medical Negligence: Pre-Existing Conditions Would Only Warrant For The Application Of Eggshell Skull Rule (Jyoti Dev V. Suket Hospital, 2024 INSC 330)


Atreyee Dey, St. Xavier's University


CASE COMMENTARY-


Court: Supreme Court of India, Civil Appellate Jurisdiction


Bench: Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Aravind Kumar


Date decided on: 23 April 2024


Appellant- Jyoti Devi


Respondent- Suket Hospital & Ors.


FACTS-


1. Under ordinary circumstances appendicitis operation is considered to be an unenterprising affair, a procedure that most doctors are accustomed to. Nonetheless, for Jyoti Devi1 it seemed otherwise. On 28th of June 2005, she was admitted to Suket Hospital, Sundernagar, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh on the pretext of having her appendicitis removed by the senior surgeon of the same Hospital, Dr. Anil Chauhan. The surgery happened successfully. Post the surgical procedure; she was discharged on 30th June 2005. Fast forward a month later, she had to be admitted again on 26th July 2005, due to continuous pain near the surgical site. She was discharged the very next day with the assurance that she would suffer no further pain. Additionally, she was treated by one Dr. L.D. Vaidya of Mandav Hospital, Mandi, on the reference of Dr. Anil Chauhan, (respondent 2 herein). This was merely the beginning of her hardship. She continued to be in pain and suffered for another four years.


2. The claimant - appellant eventually referred to another doctor at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Science, Chandigarh. Upon investigation, it was found that a 2.5 cm foreign body (needle) “is present below the anterior abdominal wall in the preveside region just medial to previous abdominal scar (Appendectomy)” for which another surgery had to be performed for its removal.



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Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research

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