The Consumer Court, Gandhinagar has ordered Apollo Hospitals to Rs. 4.92 lakhs as compensation after doctors forgot to remove a cotton swab left in a patient's stomach during surgery.

The 65-year old patient had undergone surgery after suffering from stomach pain. He was operated by Apollo Hospitals Dr. Lakshman Khuria in September, 2011. Before discharge, his X-ray showed a small shadow but the doctors did not pay much attention to it. When his stomach pain did not go away and pus began to ooze from the stitches, the man decided to consult local doctors who found the foreign object lodged in his stomach. He was again operated on and the swab was videographed by doctors and the man's family while being extracted. 

After filing for negligence with the consumer court forum headed by MJ Mehta concluded the patient's case to be that of negligence by doctors. They have been ordered to pay Rs. 4.92 lakhs to the patient with a 9% interest since 2012.

Information for the article was sourced from Times of India. Find the original article by clicking here.