On Friday, the court directed the three-member committee at J J Hospital to revert with a confirmed report as the earlier one had contradictory opinions. The earlier report, submitted by Dr Ashok Anand (gynaecologist) Dr N O Bansal (cardiologist) and Dr Neeta Sutay (paediatrician), had stated that “Sonography report shows that the foetus has a congenital complete heart block¿without any structural defects, it is viable to normal life provided there are no other structural anomalies in the heart.”

The consensus of the panel was that “there are very fair chances that the child will be born incapacitated to survive”.

However, the report had stated that “on medical reasons, the committee feels the findings observed do not have substantive significance to resort to termination of pregnancy. However, it is the liberty of the patient to choose continuation of pregnancy after knowing the realty,” the committee had said.

On Monday though, the committee clarified that “there are very least chances that the child will be born incapacitated to survive”, prompting the bench to observe that there was no categorical opinion before it to the effect that the child after birth would be seriously handicapped.

Moreover, the court noted that the report filed by petitioners based on conclusions reached by Dr Shakuntala Prabhu (Paediatrician) and Dr Snehal Kulkarni (Cardiologist) “nowhere discloses any physical or other abnormalities of serious danger where quality of life is likely to be seriously compromised or incapacitated.” The report states that a pacemaker is not a one-time solution to the problem as it has to be changed.

... contd.