A doctor and laboratory owners are ordered by a consumer court to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to Chirantan Joshi for giving a false HIV positive report in Gujarat.

Joshi panicked when the laboratory report revealed that he was HIV positive. He immediately did his wife’s test and when her report came negative, then he doubted his HIV positive report.

In the next few days, he underwent three tests at different laboratories and all reported him as HIV negative. He then sued the laboratory for false report. His legal battle was concluded in the Gujarat State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission that Joshi should be paid Rs 50,000 compensation with 6% interest for the mental trauma that his family underwent because of the false report and also towards expenses he suffered on multiple tests.

Joshi is a resident of Sathamba from Sabarkantha district and was referred to Dr Kamlesh Shah at Kapadvanj town in July 2005 as he was not well. He was even hospitalized and several tests were done. The doctor couldn’t reach any conclusion and therefore prescribed an HIV test. On 18th July, a report reflecting HIV positive was given by Kalpana Pathology Laboratory, which is owned by pathologists R C Patel and Kalpana Patel. As the report was told to him, he panicked and his wife took the test the next day and she was found to be HIV negative.

Joshi got himself discharged from the hospital on 20th July, two days after the report, against the medical advice. He went to Ahmedabad’s Apollo Hospital, Sterling Hospital and Sarvoday Laboratory for check-up. All the three reports from the laboratories gave HIV negative result.

Joshi then consulted a doctor in Ahmedabad and was treated for tuberculosis at last. He was very upset with the disturbance in his life, hence sued the doctor and the laboratory owners of Kapadvanj with the Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum, Kheda district and sought Rs 10 lakh compensation for giving the false report. His complaint was rejected in 2011, so he filed an appeal before the commission.

The doctor and the pathologists defended themselves saying that Joshi should have waited for confirmation of his HIV status with Western Blot Test. He was advised to undergo this test but he left the hospital.

Instead, Joshi’s advocate submitted that it was the fault of the doctor and pathologists that they communicated the test result without confirmation. They should have waited for the confirmation by Western Blot Test before mentioning it to Joshi and causing needless trouble to him and his family.

The consumer commission then concluded that it was a clear mistake on the doctor’s part for informing Joshi about his HIV status immediately without any due confirmation. The laboratory was also careless in giving false reports.

Source: ET Healthworld