Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
A couple approached the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) upon realising that their twin children had been conceived from another person’s sperm because of the hospital’s negligence.
The couple had contacted Bhatia Global Hospital and Endosurgery Institute in New Delhi for an Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection in 2008. After the treatment, the wife gave birth to twin girls in 2009, under the pretence that her husband was the biological father of the two children. However, the blood group of one of the girls made the couple doubtful of her parentage. The couple carried out a paternity test which proved that the biological father of the child was someone else. They realised the mishap after nearly 15 years. The couple filed a consumer complaint for ₹2 crore compensation for negligence and deficiency in the service of the hospital. The couple stated that the mix-up had created emotional stress, family discord, and a fear of genetically inherited diseases etc.
The NCDRC stated that the hospital seems to have been indulging in unfair trade practices. It was mentioned that “There is no uniform protocol specifying the sequenced application of intrauterine insemination (IUI) followed by the enrolment of the woman in in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). There is need for non-technological solutions to infertility and the regulation of medical practice. There are challenges surrounding gamete and embryo donation, the use of surrogacy and gestational carriers, the possible deleterious effects of ART, and the need for regulations and laws to govern ART reporting and social inequities.”
The Commission observed that the mix-up in sperm donors was happening without the patient’s knowledge. NCDRC Presiding Member Dr. SM Kantikar remarked that “It is pertinent to note that the delivered twins are female. Certainly, the family genealogy has been irreversibly changed. They may carry the stigma and face difficulties in future.”
NCDRC proposed that there should be a fixed timeline for accreditation of ART clinics from the authorities and to make the clinics issue the DNA profiling of babies born a mandatory procedure.
Dr.SM Kantikar ordered compensation in the following ways:
- The hospital, its chairperson and its director will pay ₹1 crore to the couple.
- The two doctors who were responsible for the procedure will pay ₹10 lakhs each.
- The hospital will deposit ₹20 lakh in the Consumer Legal Aid Account of the NCDRC.
- 1.30 Crore shall be kept in the Fixed Deposit in any nationalised bank in the names of each child equally until they attain 18 years. Their parents shall be the nominee.
Advocate Chaitanya appeared for the husband and wife, while the opposition was represented by Advocates Amit Sharma, Mukesh Garg, Angad Mehta, and Manisha Singh.