The Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed a private hospital to pay a compensation of Rs 8 lakh to a man, whose wife had died due to medical negligence in 2008. While awarding the compensation, the court also turned down the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) reports, which had given a clean chit to the Batra Hospital and Medical Research Centre and the doctor who was treating the victim, Nirmala Sharma. Nirmala died minutes after a CT Scan Contrast Media test was conducted on her while being treated for bronchitis. The family alleged that the hospital did not conduct any procedure on her and proper equipment was also not available in the room where the test was conducted. According to the complaint, on March 26, 2008, the victim had gone to the hospital for treatment of bronchitis, following which she was prescribed four tests. One of them was the contrast media test, which requires the presence of a doctor. Also, a patient needs to undergo screening before the test. Nirmala had been treated by the same doctor for breast cancer in 1994, and according to the family, he was aware of her history of hypertension and diabetes. Just 15 minutes after an injection was administered to her, she fell down on the floor with foam on her mouth, they said, adding that none of the hospital staffers bothered to attend to her immediately. The family then registered a case against the hospital at the Ambedkar Nagar police station, following which the DMC was also taken into loop. Meanwhile, the hospital authorities denied all allegations and stated that the victim was an old woman and was given the best available ,treatment and hence, this could not be termed medical negligence. Then on July 27, 2011, DMC gave a clean chit to the doctors, directing the authorities to take necessary steps to ensure better record keeping. The court, however, found that it was not desirous on the part of the DMC to reach such a conclusion and that it was wrong to take this decision.The court held the hospital guilty of gross negligence and stated: “There is absolutely no evidence to show that the media contrast scan was conducted after taking the consent of the patient or her attendant or was done in the presence of or under the supervision of a doctors or that medical treatment had been provided to the patient immediately after her condition deteriorated.”