3 cm long needle left in woman's spine after surgery, doctor stuck it after 20 years; now victim will get compensation of Rs 5 lakh

The consumer forum has ordered compensation of Rs 5 lakh to be awarded to a woman from Bengaluru. This order was issued about 20 years after a 3.2 cm surgical needle remained in her body after surgery in a private hospital here.

The Karnataka State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered the hospital and two doctors to pay Rs 50,000 as litigation expenses to Padmavati, a Jayanagar resident. It also asked New India Assurance Company Limited, which had issued the policy covering the hospital expenses, to pay her Rs five lakh for "professional and medical negligence".

The 32-year-old woman had undergone surgery at Deepak Hospital on September 29, 2004, when two doctors operated for her hernia. Since her appendix was also removed after the surgery was complete, the commission's order last month said. She complained of very acute pain the very next day for which she was given some painkillers and was assured that it was a post-surgery problem and would be cured. It said that she had been having acute pain in the abdomen and back for the past several years and was subsequently admitted twice to the same hospital.