An employer can be held responsible for all the actions of their employees, including any acts of negligence that occur during the course of their employment with the hospital. Under this principle, the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Gujarat held a hospital in Ahmedabad responsible for medical negligence when a mop (surgical cloth) was left inside a patient after an appendectomy. Case history: Initial arguments: Counsel for the complainant argued that: The cloth found inside the patient during his last operation was proof of negligence on the part of the first hospital.
The recording of the first surgery clearly showed the cloth was left in the intestine. This evidence was not considered by the District Commission (DC). The DC had ruled that the complainant could not be considered a consumer of the hospital’s services as no fees had been charged for the…
