Senior surgeon punished for medical negligence 24 years ago

A metropolitan magistrate on Tuesday convicted Dr Prafulla
Desai, 80, senior surgeon and a Padma Vibhushan recipient,
of medical negligence while treating a woman cancer patient 24 years ago.

The magistrate sentenced Desai to undergo simple imprisonment till the rising of the court and asked him to pay a fine of Rs50,000 to her husband and complainant Dr PC Singhi, a former IAS officer. Desai is attached to Bombay Hospital and Breach Candy.

“The sentence is very lenient but I am happy that a judgment has come out after so many years,” Singhi said. “The court has found him guilty. Also, my suit in the Bombay high court seeking compensation will come up for hearing on July 7.”

On December 22, 1987, Singhi’s wife Leela was admitted to Bombay Hospital with stomach pain. In his complaint, Singhi accused Desai of trying to operate upon his wife despite him knowing that Dr Earnest Greenberg, a cancer specialist attached to Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital in New York, had advised against it. The Singhis had earlier consulted Greenberg.

Though he took his wife for surgery, Desai refused to do anything when he found out that her stomach was inoperable.

He even denied that Leela Singhi was admitted as his patient in Bombay Hospital, Singhi said in his complaint.

On February, 26, 1989, Leela died after suffering continuous pain for nearly 14 months. On September 7, 1988, Singhi had written to the DGP seeking action against Desai. But, the Azad Maidan police station registered an FIR only on May 14, 1991, after the Maharashtra Medical Council held the oncologist guilty of violating medical ethics and passed strictures against him.

Singhi has moved the high court seeking Rs25 lakh in compensation. He has alleged that Desai’s negligence resulted in a painful death for his wife.