Tiruvarur: The Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered a fine of Rs 45,000 against a doctor who treated a 66-year-old woman using the scan report of a 60-year-old man instead of her own.
The complainant, Chinthamani (66), is a resident of Kokkaladi village in Thiruthuraipoondi, Tiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu. Her husband, Pakkirisamy, works as an agricultural labourer.
Suffering from abdominal pain, Chinthamani visited a well-known private hospital on Hospital Street in Thiruthuraipoondi on July 1, 2025, for medical consultation. After examining her, Dr Abu Hanifa advised her to undergo an abdominal scan at the scan centre functioning within the same hospital.
Accordingly, she underwent the scan on the same day and submitted the report to the doctor. After reviewing it, the doctor told her that there was a problem in her abdomen and that surgery was required, and prescribed some medicines and tablets.
After taking the medicines continuously for about 10 days, Chinthamani’s abdominal pain became more severe. As a result, when she consulted another private hospital in Thiruthuraipoondi on July 10, 2025, it was revealed that at the earlier hospital, the scan report of a 60-year-old man named Govindaraj had been given to her instead of her own.
On checking the name on the scan report and seeing “Govindaraj”, Chinthamani was shocked. She immediately went to the Hanifa Hospital to question them. As they did not give a proper response, she sent a legal notice through an advocate on July 25, 2025. In reply, the doctor’s side sent a letter apologising, stating that the scan report had been exchanged by mistake.
Not satisfied with this, Chinthamani filed a case at the Tiruvarur Consumer Court on October 14, 2025. The Hanifa Hospital management filed a counter-affidavit, arguing that Chinthamani herself had accidentally taken the wrong scan report, that the mistake was corrected as soon as it came to their notice, that she was orally informed within a few hours through hospital staff not to take the prescribed medicines, and that the medication caused her no harm or side effects.
However, the Tiruvarur Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission President Mohan Das and member Balu did not accept this argument. They ruled, “In this case, the concerned doctor acted in a manner that endangered Chinthamani’s health. Therefore, he must pay Rs 35,000 as compensation to Chinthamani and Rs 10,000 towards legal expenses.”
Speaking about the issue, she said, “The doctor treated me based on the wrongly given scan report. As a result of taking the tablets he prescribed, I developed allergies, blisters appeared on my legs and hands, they burst, and my condition worsened. The doctor did not take proper responsibility or provide appropriate treatment. That is why I was forced to approach the Consumer Court.”