CHANDIGARH|

In a landmark judgment, the Punjab and Haryana high court has ruled that the family of a terminally-ill person, who decides to stop treatment against medical advice and dies, cannot be denied insurance claim.

According to TOI Report, Dismissing the petition of Oriental Insurance Company Limited, which had argued that the family of an insured person leaving treatment against medical advice was not entitled for claim after death, the HC upheld the order of a claims tribunal which had asked the company to pay Rs 35.46 lakh in damages. It also clarified that a patient’s desire not to be treated is an issue of `patient autonomy’ and `embracing dignity in death’.

Medical experts say the HC order is significant since many insurance companies tend to use LAMA or `Leave Against Medical Advice’ as a justification to deny family of a deceased its claims. The bench of Justice K Kannan said: “Whet her the patient shall be allowed to die by withdrawal of life support is quite different from a patient expressing desire not to be treated.In the former, we are broaching issue of passive euthanasia and in the latter, it is an issue of patient autonomy .”

The order could come as a major relief to many such families who are burdened with huge medical costs.

Justice Kannan, in his order delivered last week, said patient autonomy in the manner of treatment is a facet of human right and it cannot be ever contended in court that the patient ought to have taken treatment that had a good prognosis for recovery .
“There have been instances where due to religious beliefs (for instance, Jehovah’s Witnesses’ denial of blood transfusion), patients have declined to take treatment and courts have confronted these problems as well and come to decisions of handsoff approach,” he said.
The said patient, RK Dogra (56), had got discharged from hospital against doctors’ advice on May 7, 2013, and died on the same day .
Dogra, a bank employee from Chandigarh, had suffered head injuries in an accident on March 15, 2013. Four days later, on March 19, he was discharged from the hospital in a satisfactory condition but was re-admitted on May 3. The summary of treatment recorded from the hospital showed the problem was diagnosed as “right temporoparietal bleed with midline shift”. His condition was stated to be bad when he was discharged on May 7.

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