Ludhiana: Private centre asked to pay ₹1L over botched kidney stone diagnosis

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission penalised a private diagnostic centre over an incorrect kidney stone diagnosis and ordered it to pay ₹1 lakh as compensation to a city resident currently studying in Canada.

The complaint was filed by one Madhav Arora, who visited India in November 2020 for his sister’s wedding.

According to the complainant, he had a history of kidney stones and sought a precautionary ultrasound from ‘Dr Munjal’s Diagnostic Centre’, located at Mohalla Kot Alamgir, on December 16, 2020.

He got a report stating he had multiple stones in both his kidneys, the complaint said.

He said that he consulted RG Stone and Super Speciality Hospital the next day, which confirmed the diagnosis and recommended surgery.

The prescribed bed rest was for 20 to 22 days, Arora said in complaint, adding that the diagnosis raised an alarm as it would disrupt his plans of returning to Canada for his studies.

Arora then had a CT scan at Delta Heart Centre on the same day, which contradicted the diagnosis and showed no kidney stones or abnormalities.

He had another ultrasound at Kuka Diagnostics to be sure, which did not find any kidney stones either.

Arora then filed a complaint alleging medical negligence.

Following the complaint, the consumer forum sought a report from a medical board constituted by the civil surgeon.

The board’s examination of Arora’s medical records concluded that the ultrasound report from Dr Munjal’s Diagnostic Centre was incorrect and RG Stone and Super Speciality Hospital had based its surgical recommendation on that flawed report.

Dr Munjal’s Diagnostic Centre argued the inherent subjectivity of ultrasound imaging.

RG Stone and Super Speciality Hospital asserted they had acted in good faith and with due diligence as their recommendations were based on the best available evidence at the time.

They cited they did not rush into surgery without proper evaluation.