The family of a newborn baby boy who died following routine vaccinations has been awarded a modest cash sum by the government after state officials determined that the doctor who administered the shots, as well as the hospital where it all took place, was guilty of gross negligence for using expired medicines. The Times of India reports that the Dhanasekaran family of Manali, India, has received compensation totaling 3 lakh, or about $5,000 in U.S. currency, after their child died following routine vaccinations. According to the report, the two vaccines that triggered the death were the combination diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus shot (DPT), and the oral polio vaccine (OPV). The Dhanasekarans had filed a claim with the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum alleging that the Dr. Durga Nursing Home, where the mother delivered the child, used expired vaccines. The incident occurred back 2003 just 42 days after the now dead child was born, when part of the post-natal care process called for him to be vaccinated. Reports indicate that the child suffered immediate reactions from the vaccines, which apparently had been improperly stored. The hospital doctor later denied these claims, but the forum ultimately determined that the hospital had been improperly equipped with adequate storage equipment that should have been in place to preserve the vaccines. Besides this, the hospital also did not have an ambulance available for addressing emergency situations like the one involving the newborn baby boy, a fact taken into account by the forum. Initially, officials ordered the hospital to pay up 1 lakh, or the equivalent of about $1600, to compensate for the dead child. This amount was later contested. Arrangements should have been made, explained the court in its decision, "to get immediate and emergency services from other capable and specialty institutions" to treat the boy, who reportedly died "unexpectedly due to sudden developments." Dr. A. Vijaya Varma, the doctor who administered the vaccines, was also declared liable and ordered to pay a portion of compensation. Hospital sterilizes mother, then kills her baby Since the mother of the child underwent a sterilization procedure after her son was born, but before he actually died, the couple did not see the 1 lakh compensation order as adequate. Unable to have any more of their own children because of the procedure, the couple appealed the 1 lakh ruling, which was later upped to 3 lakh. "It took the district forum eight years to conclude that there was indeed a deficiency of service on the part of the doctor as well as the nursing home which was not equipped with a storage system of its own to preserve life-saving drugs including the vaccines," explains a report by The Hindu. "Deciding that the award of Rs. 1 lakh was inadequate, the Bench said it was inclined to raise the same to Rs. 3 lakh after taking into consideration of the inability of complainant's wife in having children in the future." As we previously reported, a pentavalant vaccine for DPT and both hepatitis B and haemophilus influenzae type b (HIB) has injured and killed thousands in India, as have polio vaccines administered as part of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation agenda to vaccinate the entire Third World. Few have received compensation for this damage, with this latest case representing the exception rather than the norm. Source
