Indian Law: What happens if Surgical Tools are Left in Your Body after Surgery?

Ask anyone who is about to undergo a medical surgery. The person will tell you that just thinking about it is quite frightening in itself. While undergoing a surgery, the greatest concern is that you may face a risk of being operated incorrectly. Worse, there can be a risk of surgical tools being left inside your body. No, this isn’t an exaggeration but something that happens in real life. In case you are being operated under emergency conditions or you are over weight, the risk of such a disaster increases even more.

Indian Law: Medical Negligence Involves Breach of Legal Duty

Medical negligence can cause the most fatal type of personal injury and even lead to death in some cases. Why does it happen? One known reason is when there is a clear breach of legal duty on the part of medical practitioner to care and take reasonable steps to ensure the patient’s recovery.  Every year, there are many medical ‘accidents’ that are caused due to medical malpractices. In case the negligence and fault on the part of the accused is proved, the victim is legally entitled to get monetary compensation. The problem is that it takes years to get the court’s ruling in a victim’s favor.

Indian Law: Surgical Tools Left in the Body

The most common surgical tools left inside the body are:

• knives
• sponges
• needles
• towels
• retractors

These tools can cause several ill effects to your body, such as:

• severe infections
• damage to other internal organs
• persistent pain
• deterioration of your overall health

In fact, you may require another surgery to cure the problem.

Indian Law: Legal Remedies

In case you or your loved ones have been a victim of such medical negligence, you can file a lawsuit against the doctor under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. However, the burden to prove such negligence rests on the plaintiff/claimant. The court seeks solid evidence to prove medical negligence by a doctor.