Apex court frowns upon doctor for leaving screw inside patient's body

The Supreme Court Friday frowned upon a section of doctors for their growing negligence to the extent of leaving screws, forceps and scissors inside their patients' bodies.

'Oh! You are the type of doctors who leave scissors and forceps inside the body of your patients,' remarked Justice Markandey Katju.

A bench of Justice Katju and Justice Deepak Verma was hearing a lawsuit by a doctor from Bihar, challenging the state consumer commission's order to pay hefty damages to his patient Pintoo Kumar for leaving a metallic screw in his patient's body after a surgery.

'Doctors can today do anything. They can leave behind forceps and scissors inside the patient's stomach and get away with it,' said Justice Katju.

'It's six months down the line that the patient develops pain and realises he is nursing a scissor left by the doctor inside his body.'

The bench, however, issued notice to the victim on whose plea the Bihar State Consumer Commission had slapped a fine of Rs.400,000 on Mahendra Prasad, who runs the Neha Nursing Home at Buxar in Bihar.link

Pintoo Kumar in his petition had alleged that Prasad had performed an operation on Sep 16, 2004 to set right a fracture in his right leg but left behind a screw in the operated portion.

Kumar had alleged that the doctor's negligence had resulted a 'callus formation' inside his left leg and required another surgery at the Apollo hospital.

He had also alleged that Prasad conducted the operation though he is not an orthopaedic surgeon but has an MBBS with an MS in pathology.