The West Bengal State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (WBSCDRC) has directed a general surgeon and a West Midnapore-based nursing home with which he is associated to pay Rs 20 lakh compensation to the family of a deceased patient whose death is blamed on negligence in treatment.

WBSCDRC has issued a directive on 30 August asking Dr T K Biswas to pay Rs 15 lakh and authorities of Roy Nursing Home Rs 5 lakh, to the complainant, Mr Prasenjit Samata, son of Banamali Samanta, the deceased.

Dr Biswas performed a simple gallbladder surgery (laparoscopic cholecystectomy) on 62-year-old Banamali at the nursing home in West Midnapore, allegedly without taking proper consent from the patient’s family and grossly neglected his further treatment, that led to sepsis, causing his death in a private hospital in Kolkata where he was shifted from Midnapore in 2014 in a dying condition.

“The commission has directed the doctor and the nursing home to pay us the money as compensation because my father died because of their negligence in treatment. It’s the People for Better Treatment (PBT) led by US-based doctor Kunal Saha who helped and guided us in getting justice,” said Mr Samanta.

“This is a case of a poor and very ordinary man in a remote village in Midnapore who died solely due to reckless treatment followed by complete lack of post-surgical care by an influential local surgeon who rushed to perform the gall-bladder surgery instead of referring the hapless patient to a better health care centre, solely for the greed of money,” Dr Saha said.

“PBT helped this poor family from the very beginning after Mr Prasenjit Samanta came to us seeking justice for the wrongful death of his departed father.

“We guided the victim’s family for proper legal recourse starting with obtaining the medical records from the unwilling doctor and nursing home in Midnapore. We analysed the relevant medical documents to prepare and file the complaint back in 2014 and I personally appeared and participated in the final argument before the Consumer Court on behalf of the victim during my trip to Kolkata in August,” he added.

“Finally, I would like to inform that we have been helping this victim to find justice absolutely selflessly without any fees whatsoever. Several similar ‘medical negligence’ cases from West Bengal and the rest of India are currently pending before the State Commission and National Commission (NCDRC),” he said.