Delhi State Commission Dismisses Allegations Of Medical Negligence Against AIIMS Hospital And Its Doctors

Brief facts:

The complainant approached the AIIMS Hospital ('Hospital') for surgery of his left ear. He got himself registered with the hospital and 18 months advance date was given to him. On 14.08.2018, the complainant underwent the ear surgery. As per the complainant, the surgery was performed by a trainee doctor in the absence of a senior doctor. It was further stated that the surgery was conducted in a negligent manner since the trainee doctor took some portion of the skin by making a cut below the chest causing serious pain and heart attack. A black colour portion emerged at the operation site above the liver.

It was submitted that the after the discharge, the complainant faced complications day by day and was referred to a senior doctor after surgery but was not given further admission for treatment. It was further submitted that the complainant was not given the desired information regarding the line of treatment by the hospital. As per the complainant, he had suffered many heart attacks on account of the negligence committed in the surgical procedure performed by the doctors. Hence, he filed a complaint before the Delhi State Commission against the hospital and its doctors praying for appropriate compensation.

The hospital and its doctors are collectively referred to as 'Opposite parties'.

Submissions of opposite parties:

As per the opposite parties, the complainant was not a 'consumer' under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. It was submitted that AIIMS is a healthcare institution in India for providing better medical care and facilities to the public at large free of cost. It was further submitted that all medical precautions were taken to treat the complainant with full responsibility. It was further submitted that the surgical wound and the local chest wound healed well without any pain and thus, no negligence was committed on the part of the doctor.

It was categorically submitted that the complainant was diagnosed with other health issues such as tuberculosis, kidney stone, chronic pain syndrome which has nothing to do with the surgical procedure conducted by the ENT department.

Observations of the commission:

The bench examined the facts and observed that the complainant was counselled about the surgery where it was explained to him that the outcome of the surgery may not be as good as normal natural pinna. It was observed that the complainant was given pain killers, antibiotics and other medications and was referred for Neuro- Psychiatry opinion as he had a head injury and frontal lobe involvement from the accident. The complainant was then operated to remove the blood clot from brain and was put on anti-epilectic treatment for seizure prevention. The bench observed that the complainant was also referred to other departments like plastic surgery, causality and chest physician review, dermatology for redressal of his complaints which were not related to ENT.

After going through the contents of the complaint, the bench observed that the complainant has merely made vague allegations which do not disclose any specific detail to carve out medical negligence against the line of treatment provided. It was further observed that no cogent material or expert evidence has been placed on record to show negligence on the part of the hospital and its doctors.

Hence, the complaint was dismissed.

Case Title: Anil Kumar Singh vs AIIMS

Case Number: Complaint Case No. 284/2020

Advocate for the Complainant: Manish Shukla

Advocate for Opposite parties: Sonali Malhotra

Date of Decision: 12.09.2025