Surgical Needle Found In Woman’s Abdomen 12 Years After C-Section; Madras HC Directs Medical Council To Decide Her Complaint Within 2 Months

The petitioner underwent a Caesarean section with tubectomy at a Corporation Maternity Hospital on 4 September 2010.

In January 2022, a scan and X-ray at Kilpauk Government Hospital revealed a surgical needle, approximately 5 cm long, in her abdomen; she underwent surgery to remove it.

She complained that the needle had been left during the 2010 procedure and sought action against the doctor who performed it.

After submitting complaints and a representation without obtaining an enquiry, she filed this writ petition.

The respondents relied on the delay of approximately 12 years in approaching the Court

The judgment cites no statute, regulation, or precedent.

It applies the principle that delay need not prevent consideration of a complaint where the circumstances may explain the delay and the available medical records disclose a matter requiring investigation.

The Court directed the Tamil Nadu Medical Council to hear the petitioner and the doctor, consider the relevant medical records and hospital report, and pass necessary orders

The Court considered the petitioner’s economic circumstances and the fact that she could not reasonably have known that a surgical needle had been left inside her abdomen until it was discovered in 2022.

It also relied on the Kilpauk hospital’s discharge summary, which recorded no intervening surgery, and the intra-operative findings of 6 January 2022, which recorded a 5 cm needle in the abdomen.

In the Court’s view, those records warranted investigation notwithstanding the delay; it therefore referred the complaint for consideration by the Tamil Nadu Medical Council rather than finally determining the doctor’s disciplinary liability

The writ petition was disposed of with no order as to costs.