National Insurance Company Ltd v. Bala Gupta

1. Allowed, subject to all just exceptions. CM APPL. 47940/2023

2. For the reasons stated in the application, the delay of 63 days in filing the appeal stands condoned.

3. The application stands disposed of. MAC.APP. 432/2023 & CM APPL. 47939/2023

4. This appeal has been filed challenging the Award dated 25.03.2013 (hereinafter referred to the ‘Impugned Award’) passed by the learned Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, North West District, Rohini, Delhi (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Tribunal’) in MACT Case No.29/2012, titled Smt.Bala Gupta and Ors. v. Satvinder Singh and Ors.

5. The limited challenge of the appellant to the Impugned Award is that the learned Tribunal has wrongly assessed the compensation in favour of the claimants, by treating the death of the injured, that is, Mr.Ishwar Chand Gupta, a result of the accident in question.

6. The learned counsel for the appellant drawing reference to the answers given by the Dr.S.K. Jain, Senior Consultant, CTVS, Maharaja Agarsen Hospital (PW-4), submits that the witness has clearly stated that as the post-mortem report stated that the deceased had died due to natural causes, he must have died due to a natural cause of death and not due to the injury suffered in the accident.

7. I am unable to find merit in the submissions made by learned counsel for the appellant.

8. In the present case, it had been proved on record that on 06.12.2011, the deceased was walking towards Sainik Vihar from Rishi Nagar. At about 5:00 p.m, when he reached at the gate of main street of Rishi Nagar, the offending vehicle, that is, one white coloured Maruti Wagon-R Car bearing no. DL9CQS8982, came from the side of gate no. 1 of Sainik Vihar and was being driven in a rash and negligent manner by the respondent no.1 herein at a high speed. The car hit the deceased causing injuries to him. The deceased was immediately removed to Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital, Pitampura where he was medically examined. The MLC No. 1793/11 reported that the deceased had suffered segmental fracture of right leg u/3, L/3 grade IIIc with vasculor injuries. The deceased was shifted to Maharaja Agrasen Hospital, Punjabi Bagh on the same day at about 7:30 pm for further treatment. The deceased died on 07.12.2011 at about 01:09 PM. The post-mortem was conducted by Dr.Bhim Singh, MD, Forensic Medicine, Junior Resident Specialist, Babu Jagjeevan Ram Memorial Hospital. In the post-mortem report the cause of death was opined as cardio-genic shock consequent upon blockage of left anterior descending coronary artery due to pre-existing coronary artery disease, a natural cause of death.

9. Though, the post-mortem states that the deceased had died due to natural causes, the testimony of PW-4 is relevant to determine if the same is in any manner also connected with the injuries sustained from accident in question. PW[4] in his examination-in-chief had stated as under: “I am a summoned witness and have brought the required record. I treated the patient lshwar Chand Gupta, aged about 67 years, from 06.12.2011 to 07.12.2011 at Maharaja Agarsain Hospital, Punjabi Bagh, Delhi. The patient was admitted in the said hospital after the accident. The patient was admitted in the casualty of Maharaja Agarsain Hospital from Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital with a history of RTA and fracture of right leg and vascular injuries. I have seen the postmortem report of the deceased lshwar Chand Gupta of BJRM Hospital, which is already Ex.PW1/7. As per the said postmortem report, the patient died a natural death due to cardiogenic shock consequent upon blockage of left interior descending coronary artery due to preexisting coronary artery disease. It can happen in some old patients that some preexisting disease may aggravate due to injuries. In the present case, the patient was operated upon in the night of 06.12.2011, the operation continued till the early morning hours of 07.12.2011, the patient suffered heart attack at about 8:00 am on 07.12.2011 and ultimately expired at about 11:41 am. The patient was revived at 8:00 am and again suffered a cardiac arrest at 10:00 am. The patient was again revived and suffered the last cardiac arrest at 11:00 am. Sometimes, when a patient has multiple fractures then pulmonary embolism may occur i.e the blood clot from the fractures may travel towards the heart, which may lead to cardiac arrest. The patient had a history of diabetes and cerebrovascular accident earlier. We at the hospital did echocardiogram of the patient which was found to be normal. We also made all the efforts to save the patient when he suffered heart attacks thrice. There is a probability that in the instant case the blood clot might have travelled from the injured portion to the heart.”

10. From the reading of the above, it is evident that the deceased had suffered the first cardiac arrest immediately after the operation, at 08:00 a.m. in the morning. Though he was revived at that time, he suffered second cardiac arrest at 10.00 am. He suffered a third cardiac arrest at about 11:00 am and then unfortunately expired at 11:41 a.m.

11. Though the doctor in his cross-examination has stated that if the post-mortem is mentioning the cause of death as a natural cause, the should be assumed to be correct, and even though there was a history of pre-existing coronary artery disease, in my opinion, the timing of the deceased suffering from three consecutive cardiac arrests immediately after undergoing the operation for the injuries suffered in the accident, would clearly indicate that the cardiac arrest was, if not solely caused because of the accident, a result of the accident and the injuries suffered by the deceased in the accident.

12. The learned Tribunal has also considered this issue and has opined as under: “11.15 In this context, I have carefully examined the testimony of PW[4] Dr. S.K. Jain, who was the treating doctor of the deceased and had categorically deposed that the deceased had expired during treatment on the next day of occurrence of the case accident after undergoing a surgery for management of fracture of leg sustained in the case accident. The said doctor had stated on oath that although the deceased had a pre-existing coronary artery disease, however, in some cases the blood clot from the injured portion (body part) of a patient might travel to his heart and can trigger a cardiac arrest. The relevant extract of testimony of PW[4] Dr. S.K. Jain is reproduced herein below:- “Sometimes, when a patient has multiple fractures then pulmonary embolism may occur, that is, the blood clot from the fractures may travel towards the heart which may lead to cardiac arrest.”

11.16 Thus, from a perusal of above cited extract of testimony of PW[4], it can be safely concluded that in certain cases injuries sustained in the road traffic accident may cause heart attack or cardiac arrest on account of the fact that blood clot from the injured/fractured body part may travel upto the heart of the patient. Even in the postmortem report of the deceased, it was duly mentioned that the present fracture of right leg sustained by the deceased was antemortem in nature and had been caused by blunt force impact possibly in a road traffic accident and therefore even in the postmortem report, it has been categorically mentioned that the injuries sustained by the injured in the case accident were antemortem in nature, that is, had occurred immediately prior to the death of the victim and were perhaps the most immediate and proximate cause of his death. In the light of my foregoing discussion, I am of the considered opinion that the cardiogenic shock resulting in death of the victim could have been triggered on account of injuries sustained by the victim in the case accident. xxx

11.18 The facts of the present case are akin to the facts of the above cited case decided by Ld.

NCDRC and in the present case also the victim had sustained three heart attacks during the course of treatment of injuries sustained in the case accident, therefore, there is a possibility that the blood clot from the fractured leg of the victim had travelled to his heart thereby triggering multiple cardiogenic shocks resulting in death of the victim. Hence, I find no merit in submissions of learned counsel for the insurance company to the effect that the deceased had suffered a natural death due to cardiogenic shock and his legal heirs were not entitled to any compensation in the present matter.”