A consumer court in Mohali held a private hospital and its neurosurgeon accountable for medical negligence in a case involving spinal surgery on an elderly patient. The ruling followed a sequence of treatment decisions in 2020 that allegedly lacked adequate preoperative evaluation, leading to complications, repeated interventions, and eventual death in early 2021. The patient, a man in his mid-70s with diabetes, was diagnosed with degenerative lumbar canal stenosis and L5–S1 listhesis. He was admitted to a private hospital between March 19 and April 6, 2020, across three hospital stays.
During this period, he underwent spinal surgery on March 21, 2020, which involved decompression and placement of implants to stabilize the spine. The total cost of treatment exceeded Rs 5.9 lakh. According to records, the implants failed within days, with screws becoming malpositioned and loosening,…
