'Dyspepsia' no ground to deny insurance claim: National Panel
Can a person suffering from dyspepsia -- a painful problem of indigestion -- be denied assured sum by an insurance firm on ground of its non disclosure?
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: Can a person suffering from dyspepsia -- a painful problem of indigestion -- be denied assured sum by an insurance firm on ground of its non disclosure?
The answer is 'no' as the National Consumer Commission has held that dyspepsia is not a disease in itself.
"In today's world, people face problems like acidity, indigestion, back pain and head ache, which are sometimes chronic in nature. They cannot be considered as diseases, which require to be enumerated while answering questionnaire of the LIC in its proposal form," the apex consumer panel headed by its president Justice M B Shah held.
Dismissing a revision petition of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) against the Madhya Pradesh State Commission order, the panel directed it to pay the assured sum of Rs 50,000 to Chandra Kant Lohande, widow of a public sector employee Kanti Kumar.
The Commission Bench comprising Rajyalakshmi Rao and P D Shenoy as members held the repudiation of policy as "unjust and improper" and also imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on the LIC.
Kumar, working with Western Coal Fields had obtained the life insurance policy with a quarterly premium of Rs 1,404 in March, 1992. The LIC, however, denied the assured sum to Kumar's widow, claiming he was a chronic patient of dyspepsia.
It submitted his employer's certificates to buttress its arguments that Kumar had availed medical leave every year since 1993 to 1997 for his treatment as an out door patient.
Observing that in government departments, medical leaves are liberally taken as they can neither be accumulated beyond a particular time nor be encashed, the Commission said it cannot be taken as ground for a conclusion that the assured was suffering from a serious ailment.
The answer is 'no' as the National Consumer Commission has held that dyspepsia is not a disease in itself.
"In today's world, people face problems like acidity, indigestion, back pain and head ache, which are sometimes chronic in nature. They cannot be considered as diseases, which require to be enumerated while answering questionnaire of the LIC in its proposal form," the apex consumer panel headed by its president Justice M B Shah held.
Dismissing a revision petition of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) against the Madhya Pradesh State Commission order, the panel directed it to pay the assured sum of Rs 50,000 to Chandra Kant Lohande, widow of a public sector employee Kanti Kumar.
The Commission Bench comprising Rajyalakshmi Rao and P D Shenoy as members held the repudiation of policy as "unjust and improper" and also imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on the LIC.
Kumar, working with Western Coal Fields had obtained the life insurance policy with a quarterly premium of Rs 1,404 in March, 1992. The LIC, however, denied the assured sum to Kumar's widow, claiming he was a chronic patient of dyspepsia.
It submitted his employer's certificates to buttress its arguments that Kumar had availed medical leave every year since 1993 to 1997 for his treatment as an out door patient.
Observing that in government departments, medical leaves are liberally taken as they can neither be accumulated beyond a particular time nor be encashed, the Commission said it cannot be taken as ground for a conclusion that the assured was suffering from a serious ailment.
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