Fat Rejection! IRDA Refuses Demands To Include Weight Loss Surgeries In Mediclaim.

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Runjhun

IRDA rejects demands to include weight loss surgeries in health insurance

This should have been a no-brainer. But the number of people who consider their weight a life-destroying reality, not so much.

And so despite vehement arguments from Bariatric surgeons on how bariatric surgery, that is, weight loss surgery ‘saves lives’, IRDA was not impressed.

The pro-coverage lobby’s arguments were hardly as frivolous as they sound and according to bariatric surgeon Dr Sanjay Borude, who operates on around 20 patients a month, said barely one per cent of the patients who opt to go under the knife do it for sheer cosmetic purposes. According to Dr. Borude, most of the patients who opt for weight-loss surgery are suffering from life-threatening ailments, a huge chunk of which cannot be conducted because of lack of funds.

Bariatric surgery is categorised by the insurance companies as a procedure done for cosmetic purposes, hence it is not covered in the insurance, despite repeated protests by the bariatric surgeons. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) rejected the demand to include bariatric surgery in the medical insurance despite arguments to the contrary.

We say, surgeons many have had a point but sometimes perceptions can seriously hinder our and in this case, IRDA’s view of facts on the ground.

No mediclaim for weight-loss surgeries: IRDA (Mumbai Mirror)

Consumer Horror! Diagnostic Center In Delhi Wrongly Diagnoses A Person As HIV+, To Pay 2 Lakhs.

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Runjhun

complaint against diagnostic center for wrongly diagnosing a patient as HIV+, to pay 2L as compensation

Diagnosing someone as HIV+ is bad.

Diagnosing someone as HIV+ wrongly is…you tell me!

One of the worst instances of medical negligence surfaced in New Delhi where a diagnostic laboratory misdiagnosed a person as HIV+.

Horrifying ? You bet.

But this is just the beginning of the story.

As if the horror of the misdiagnosis and trauma of being an HIV+, however briefly was not enough, this particular consumer also lost an employment opportunity abroad because of the diagnosis. The mis-diagnosis had happened when the consumer underwent mandatory fitness tests for a job in Saudi Arabia.

A complaint was filed with the consumer forum and the South West District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum held that if the test conducted by Paramount Diagnostic Center had to be re-run after four to six weeks to confirm it then the lab could not have reported him unfit on the basis of their (initial) findings… Their haste in declaring him unfit immediately after the test is not only negligent but also rash on their part.

The forum also noted that Paramount`s report had been proved “false” by all subsequent tests including one by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) which was conducted within two weeks of the “faulty” report. The forum ordered the diagnostic center to pay Rs 2.05 lakh as damages along with Rs.5000 as litigation cost to a 25-year-old youth for wrongly diagnosing him as HIV positive and depriving him of an employment opportunity abroad.

City lab to pay Rs 2.05 lakh for wrongly diagnosing youth as HIV+ (Zee News)

Medical Murders! Doctors In Thane To Pay 6 Lakhs For Patient’s Death.

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Runjhun

complaint against Thane doctors, to pay 6L as compensation for patient's death

If there is one common factor in all medical negligence cases, it would be hefty compensation.

Most such cases, if they see the light of the Maharashtra consumer forum, end up with payment of compensation that runs in lakhs. Not that it makes such cases any more desirable or any less perplexing but at least this indicates that our forums take such cases seriously.

The latest in the never ending list of medical atrocities is a case from Thane. The compensation was hefty but it actually does not compensate for anything as far as the real loss was concerned–the complaint was triggered by the death of a patient.

Thane based gynaecologist Sujata Rathod and physician Vasant Kumar Jog were found guilty by the Thane District Forum of ”deficiency of service and medical negligence” which resulted into death of a pregnant woman while undergoing treatment.

The forum has ordered them to pay Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 5,00,000 respectively in addition to Rs 10,000 each towards legal expenses to Shashikant Vichare, husband of the deceased.

The case may go into appeal; the consumer may still finally get the money. But like every medical negligence case, this too leaves us with the same questions–can money really compensate for someone’s death? And more crucially, was it justified for someone to lose a loved one just because a bunch of “dedicated”, highly paid ’professionals’ could not take their jobs seriously?

Consumer court asks doctors to pay compensation (Financial Express)

Nursing Home Pains! Consumer Forum Orders A Nursing Home To Pay 10L For A Patient’s Death.

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Runjhun

complaint against nursing home, to pay 10L for patient's death

Nursing homes. Somewhere between smaller clinics and full blown hospitals lies this another category of medical care centers that still seem to be groping with a strange identity crisis.

We would have hardly held it against them if their identity crisis would have not affected the average consumers. But somewhere, as these ‘nursing homes’ nurse their patients and their identity, dubious medical malpractices flourish with ease.

Prevalent medical negligence at these ‘nursing homes’ that have been mushrooming across India is hardly a secret for anybody. Not that medical negligence is an exclusive for these homes. It is equally or more prevalent in larger hospitals as well.

The only trouble with the complaints that arise in nursing homes is that they are affect the consumers at the grassroot level and such cases go largely unreported.

For a change, this is a story where a complaint against a nursing home met its logical end–with a whopping compensation of 10L awarded by a consumer forum.

The South West District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in New Delhi held two doctors, Shakuntla Nursing Home of Sagarpur and its owner have been ordered by a consumer forum here to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the widow and minor children of a person for medical negligence in his surgery for removal of gall-bladder in 2008, leading to his death.

Doctors, nursing home to pay 10L for patient’s death. (Business Standard)

Shocking! Mango Bite ‘Unsafe’ Says FDA, Asks Parle To Recall Stocks From Market.

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Posted on October 17, 2012 by Runjhun

Complaint Against Parle Mango Bite, FDA Considers It 'Unsafe', Asks For A Recall Of STock From Market

What if someone told a 4 year old that Santa was a lie? Or worst, that Santa was a cheat?

What if someone told you that all your fairy tale childhood memories were a sham, an ugly game of deceit?

Of course, I am being melodramatic! But then, when a part of your childhood is snatched, torn and stamped upon, some drama is warranted…and justified.

Remember Mango Bite?

Of course you do. That sweet, sour comfort toffee. The gentle taste of childhood-for kids and adults alike.

Over the years,that orange-yellow aam ki rasili goli morphed into the sour, green bite of kachcha aam, never for once losing its charm or appeal!

Each and everyone of us, whether born in 90′s or trendy 2000′s would inevitably have fond memories of Mango Bite.

But no more!

That very Mango Bite that resonated the security and safety only childhood can allow has branded ‘unsafe’ by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Parle has been instructed to recall from the market, the entire stock of this popular candy.

Finished goods and ingredients worth over 2 crores have been seized from two Parle units in Raigadh and Bhiwandi by FDA officials, Konkan division. According to FDA, the manufacturer Parle Biscuits Pvt Ltd at Kirkhinde in Khopoli (Raigadh) used buffered lactic acid (adulterant) in the confectionery which is not permitted and is banned by Food Authority of India and Food Safety and Standard Act.

The samples have been sent for lab testing and a final decision will be taken only after the reports are received.

Meanwhile Parle has decided to take up this matter in Bombay High Court as it maintains that lactic acid is not unfit for human consumption.

Seems its going to be a long wait before, if at all, the next kachche aam ka xerox hits the market and our palate!

Parle Mango Bite Sweet Unsafe (DNA)

Picture Credit: veganbengaluru.wordpress.com

Chronic Pain! Hyderabad Based Hospital To Pay 1.5L As Compensation For Negligence.

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Runjhun

Complaint Against Hyderabad Based Kamineni Hospital, To Pay 1.5L For Negligence

Medical negligence cases come in all hues and degrees of gravity. But the end result is always painful–not just mental but also physical.

Even when medical negligence is not actually killing people, it still lands unsuspecting individuals in severely tormenting situations for no real fault on their part. Either way, no amount of compensation actually ‘compensates’ the victims of medical negligence–it is just the best that can be done which is obviously never enough.

A consumer from Hyderabad, suffering from chronic lower back pain and numbness in left limb approached Kamineni Hospital at King Koti for treatment. A horrible mess up ensued after she was advised surgery. She underwent surgery in 2006 but the pain soon reappeared and her condition deteriorated despite continued treatment and repeated hospitalizations.

She was eventually advised to go for a permanent implantation and a spinal cord stimulator. The surgery. worth over 3.5 lakhs in terms of costs failed and the implants had to be removed. She was in no condition to undergo the surgery again. When the hospital refused to refund the cost of stimulator, she approached consumer forum.

The Hyderabad Consumer Forum concluded that deficiency in service by the hospital “deems to be proved” and ordered the hospital management to pay Rs 1.5 lakh compensation and Rs 5,000 towards litigation in September 2012.

We just wonder–even if she gets the compensation eventually, does it really make a difference to her condition. In the end, she is still left suffering with chronic pain and complications, probably for the rest of her life.

Is any compensation appropriate for a life long worth of trouble?

Hospital Asked To Pay 1.5L For Medical Negligence (Times of India)