BENGALURU: A medical test for a harmless lump on his forehead turned into a prolonged ordeal for a 28-year-old man after a diagnostic laboratory allegedly handed him a report belonging to another patient and told him he had thyroid-related conditions.More than two years later, Bengaluru Urban-II Consumer Commission held Harshitha Diagnostic Laboratory and Scanning Centre at Mahalakshmi Layout responsible for negligence and directed it to pay Kadale Rs 55,000, which includes Rs 50,000 in compensation for mental agony and Rs 5,000 in litigation costs.The episode began on March 2, 2024, when Rathna Kumar G Kadale visited the laboratory on his doctor’s advice for a fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) examination of a lump on his forehead.His doctor had suspected that the lump was either a lipoma or a sebaceous cyst. Two days later, however, the laboratory issued a report diagnosing him with “nodular goitre with colloid degeneration” and “Hashimoto thyroiditis.”Kadale became suspicious when he noticed that portions of the report appeared to have been overwritten by hand rather than printed. Concerned about the unexpected diagnosis, he sought another medical opinion. A histopathology report dated March 11, 2024, subsequently confirmed that the lump was a lipoma, consistent with the original clinical suspicion.According to Kadale’s complaint, the doctor who examined him was surprised on seeing the laboratory report and remarked, “Are you female?” The doctor also allegedly told him that the report was not his.The incident left Kadale anxious for days, prompting him to undergo additional scans and tests to establish that he did not have the conditions mentioned in the laboratory report.He told the commission that the episode caused him considerable mental distress, embarrassment and disruption to his work. He issued a legal notice to the laboratory on March 27, 2024, seeking Rs 5 lakh in compensation. As the matter was not resolved, he approached the consumer commission on June 26, 2024.The laboratory denied negligence and offered a different explanation. It claimed that a woman with a similar name had undergone a test at the facility on the same day and that Kadale, in a hurry while the receptionist was on a phone call, had picked up her report by mistake.Patient blamedThe laboratory alleged that Kadale had subsequently altered the report himself in an attempt to extort money.It also accused him of having misbehaved with its staff during an earlier visit in 2023 and claimed that his conduct had contributed to a staff member’s resignation.The diagnostic lab described Kadale’s demand for Rs 5 lakh as “exorbitant and baseless.”The commission comprising president V Anuradha and members H Janardhan and Sharavathi SM noted that WhatsApp messages placed on record indicated that the laboratory itself had acknowledged the mistake and apologised to Kadale.The commission also pointed to a more fundamental problem: Kadale’s original prescription did not call for a thyroid-related examination.It sought an FNAC examination of the forehead lump to determine whether it was a lipoma or another localised lesion.Thus, the commission found that the laboratory had not merely issued an incorrect report but had also failed to perform the test indicated in the prescription and had instead issued a report containing an entirely different diagnosis.Holding the laboratory responsible for the resulting mental agony and inconvenience suffered by Kadale, the commission directed the lab to pay the amount within 45 days.
