NEW DELHI: A paediatric specialist who was mistakenly diagnosed HIV positive has been awarded a compensation of Rs 3.5 lakh to be paid by Dr Lal PathLabs . The order was handed down by a New Delhi consumer disputes redressal forum. The forum, under president C K Chaturvedi, came down hard on the laboratory for a wrong report and said it revealed a “shocking state of affairs in the laboratory”, adding that it was "fleecing consumers by false advertisements and use of inefficient medical personnel and staff."

According to the complaint, on May 24, 2003, the doctor who was working with the Army Medical Corps as a paediatric specialist in a military hospital at Kirkee, Pune, had accidentally pricked her finger during a routine procedure on a baby born to an HIV positive mother. “The complainant as per duty code of the armed forces reported the matter to the duty medical officer. It is alleged that she was advised to get herself tested and treated, if required, for post-exposure prophylaxes. The nature of infection being life-threatening, several repeated tests at various intervals had to be done as a matter of procedure till final confirmation by way of a report on HIV detection. The complainant subjected herself to various tests from different laboratories to ascertain whether the HIV virus had passed into her at the time of the incident," said the order.

The tests revealed there was no infection, but the doctor went for a final test to Dr Lal PathLabs in Delhi “because it possessed state-of-the-art equipment for various tests and was known for its expertise," read the order.

On August 4, 2003, the complainant received a call from the Pune office of that laboratory which conveyed to her that the report was positive. This traumatized her and her family members and plunged them into gloom and fear. Next day, a second confirmation test was carried out. The doctor alleged that as a result of the initial report and confusion created by it, she got admitted and subjected herself to a series of tests and Army procedures. A court of inquiry way set up on August 6, 2003, and, consequently, the complainant was placed in a low medical category for prospective HIV infection on September 16, 2003. “This allegedly caused grave mental agony, loss of reputation and respect, and stigma and (she) had to undergo a rigorous process of observation and restriction for 12 weeks,” said the court order.

The lab argued that test conducted on the complainant was not a diagnostic test.