Dentist to pay Rs.57,200 for extracting wrong tooth

CHANDIGARH - A dentist, accused of extracting a wrong tooth, has been directed by a consumer dispute forum here to pay Rs.57,200 as compensation to the patient.

The district consumer disputes redressal forum Thursay directed Kohli to pay a compensation of Rs.50,000 for causing mental agony and harassment to the complainant, Rs.5,000 for covering the cost of litigation and Rs.2,200 for the medical expense.

According to the complaint, Poonam Devi had in June 2009 gone to Ashima Kohli’s private dental clinic in Sector 30 here.

“I visited the clinic as I had pain in my lower jaw. Earlier, a doctor had suggested the extraction of my sixth tooth in the lower jaw, as it was infected. I apprised Kohli about this, but she diagnosed that the seventh tooth was causing pain,” Poonam Devi told IANS Friday.

“She extracted the seventh tooth, but it did not bring me any relief. On visiting a government doctor, I found that the actual problem was still with the sixth tooth. When I approached Kohli, she misbehaved with me and my husband and refused to meet us. Following this, we approached the consumer forum,” she added.

The consumer forum referred the medical reports to the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here. A special team of senior doctors was constituted to look into the matter, which gave its decision in the favour of Devi.

In the argument, Kohli’s counsel said his client had extracted the right tooth and there was no negligence in the treatment.