Chandigarh dentist asked to pay Rs. 50000 for pulling out wrong tooth
POSTED July 10, 2010 - 14:14 | POSTED BY neha gupta
Last edited by Silky Chandvani on July 10, 2010 - 14:30
The dentist has also been ordered to refund the Rs.2200 taken from the patient and an additional amount of Rs.5000 to cover the legal fees.
The forum clearly stated that the dentist extracted a healthy tooth instead of the infected one that had caused mental agony and harassment to the patient.
Seventh tooth pulled out instead of the sixth
Poonam Devi of Sector-19 C, Chandigarh had felt a severe pain in her lower left jaw on March 14, 2009, following which she visited the Government dispensary in Sector 3.
She was informed by the dentist there that her sixth tooth was decaying and needed to be pulled out soon.
Poonam was prescribed medicines for 3 days by the dentist after which she left the dispensary.
However, she felt the pain again on June 16, 2009 and this time she consulted Dr.Ashima Kohli in Sector-30.
Dr.Kohli told the patient that her seventh tooth was carious and needed treatment instead of the sixth.
She too prescribed medicines for the next 3 days and asked Poonam to revisit if the pain does not subside.
The complainant said she visited the clinic on the appointed date and told Dr Kohli that the government clinic dentist had found her sixth tooth to be infected.
"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 on Friday.
Tooth pulled out without X-ray
Paying no heed to the patient, Dr.Kohli pulled out the seventh tooth without an X-ray and prescribed medicines for 5 days.
Poonam was asked to leave and return only in case of swelling in the jaw.
Poonam went to the clinic with her husband on that date as the inflammation emerged. The doctor checked her tooth and her husband pointed out that the carious tooth was still intact and causing pain, the petition stated.
However on asking why the wrong tooth was pulled, Dr Kohli allegedly told them to get out of the clinic following which Poonam's husband complained to the police about the dentist's behavior.
A special team of senior doctors was constituted to look into the matter, which gave its decision in the favor of Devi.
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