Legal Remedies for Countering the Menace of False Consumer Complaints against Hospitals in India: Lawyers Advice

Resembling the false consumer complaints against the doctors for medical negligence, there are various vexatious complaints against the hospitals as well, both private as well as government. Although Judiciary is taking endless efforts in punishing those complainants who file false petitions against such institutions, however this problem in never ending and recently the number of such frivolous complaints has been increased by 28%. Until the problem of false and vexatious complaints is not taken seriously, the consumers will be encouraged to carry on such practices. Therefore some strict actions are required to be taken against such complainants.

Consumers have a responsibility to take all necessary precautions and avoid any sort of negligence on their behalf while visiting hospitals and undergoing any sort of treatments. If consumers believe that hospitals have been negligent in providing with the proper treatment then they should complain to the higher authorities and share their grievances with them. When the loss is such, which is irreparable or when there is loss of life, then the consumers has the right to go ahead and file complaint against such hospitals. The complainants should make an effort to collect all the necessary evidence before proceeding to the court, which could avoid wasting the precious time of the courts.

In K Jayaraman v Poona Hospital and Research Centre & Ors, 1994 2 CPR 31, the NCDRC has provided that when explicitly questioned from the plaintiff as to what specific damage he had grieved due to the suspected negligence in the treatment in the hospital, the complainant was not able to specify it, except for declaring that he got a scar in his heart. The complainant also failed to produce any opinion from the expert that the scar was the outcome of the supposed delay in beginning of the treatment and not because of heart attack. The Commission further perceived that the complainant had primarily served notices on the opposite party, claiming the amount of Rupees l lakh as compensation. This amount however was raised to Rupees 10 Lakhs in the complaint filed before the Commission. The complainant was not able to give a proper explanation as how the compensation amount claimed by them had gone up from Rupees 1 lakh to Rupees 10 lakhs. Therefore the Complaint was considered as frivolous and was eventually dismissed and directed the complainant to pay the sum of 10,000 Rupees as damages for the loss of reputation and time caused to the respondent hospital.

The consumers deliberately involve themselves in such practices where they inflate their claims with a view to sidestep the district or state consumer forums and to have their matters adjudicated by the National Consumer forums. Such complaints should be considered as frivolous and a gross misuse of the Consumer Protection Act, causing undue nuisance to the respondent hospital in protecting itself against the consumers.

There is an immediate need to counter the problem of the vexatious and false complaints by consumers for protecting the rights of the hospital authorities and protect them from undue harassment. The stern warning is required to be given to the complainants for attempting to misuse the statutory processes and wasting the time of the court. The same was provided in the case of Vijay Kumar v. Complaint Authority (RTI) Employment Exchange and 2 others, Review Application No. 110 of 2018 pronounced on August 8, 2018, (NCDRC) where it was held that it is suitable and albeit essential to give strict directions of caution to all the consumers who file false complaints, through a token of pecuniary deterrent cost, to abstain them from abusing the law processes which has been made available for the consumers for safeguarding their interests and rights under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
The legislative has not developed this act to be used as a tool to create ‘nuisance value’ in government offices.

LEGAL WAYS TO COUNTER THE PROBLEM
• The judiciary should have the responsibility to check the preliminary evidences and then only proceed with the case against the hospitals. If the evidence does not appear to be sufficient or it appears to be vexatious, the commission should refrain itself from admitting such cases. It should be accompanied by stern warning to the consumers for causing such nuisance.
• Both the parties should make an effort to resolve the case before moving to the courts, so that it could be determined at early stage only whether consumer have a valid case or not. So, it is critical for the patient to decide the value of his case. The patient is required to contemplate all possible losses which harm the reputation of the hospitals from the misleading complaints.
• Along with that consumers need to self-analyse their past and future medical expenses, losses in wages, pain and, suffering, etc. and accordingly should file for the complaints. Many states entail the patients to jump through a few rounds before finally filing such lawsuits. These requirements vary from state to state. A patient should file an affidavit of merit which should be attested by a competent medical expert that states the complainant has a valid case. Only by taking such steps we can avoid any type of false complaints by the consumers.
Authored By: Adv. Anant Sharma & Bheeni Goyal