Dr Lal Pathlabs found guilty of medical negligence after false urea test led to emergency hospitalization. Panel says lab can’t escape responsibility for its error.
NEW DELHI: Today, on June 20, in a significant ruling, the Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has confirmed a previous order holding Dr Lal Pathlabs accountable for providing a wrong medical report to a patient, which led to unnecessary hospitalization and mental trauma.
The Commission dismissed the lab’s appeal and upheld the Rs 3.5 lakh compensation awarded to the affected patient by the district consumer forum in August 2014.
The case began when a patient received a lab report from Dr Lal Pathlabs that showed dangerously high urea levels—over ten times the normal range.
This alarming result prompted the patient to seek emergency medical care, leading to immense distress and anxiety. However, it was later found that the lab report was incorrect.
The lab had challenged the district forum’s decision by filing an appeal before the State Consumer Commission. But the Commission, in its order dated May 26, rejected the lab’s arguments and made strong observations against its conduct.
the Commission stated,
“When a patient’s urea levels are reported at more than ten times the normal range, triggering emergency hospitalisation and profound distress, the laboratory cannot retreat behind semantic arguments about its limited role in the diagnostic chain,”
The bench, comprising Commission President Sangita Dhingra Sehgal and Judicial Member Pinki, also criticised the lab’s efforts to pass the blame onto others, including the treating doctors and the patient’s own medical history.
the order added,
“Moreover, the appellant’s (Lal Pathlabs) attempt to shift blame onto prescribing physicians or the Respondent’s medical history holds no ground,”
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