In September 1984, at the age of 25, when he was already the national champion and making his mark in international table tennis, Chandrashekhar had some pain in his knee which required a minor knee operation. went wrong on the operation table. The wrong dosage of anesthesia played its part and he suffered
brain damage and lost his vision and control over his limbs. which came to trial three years later. The medical community's
omertà was broken by a few brave doctors, especially an Orthopedist from
Maharashtra who helped to demolish the hospital's case. During the trial it came to light that the
orthopedic surgeon of the hospital had received training in arthroscopy only in workshops in UK and not in a
medical school as part of the curriculum. Eight years after the operation, and five years since the trial began, after the examination of ten witnesses and recording a thousand pages of evidence, the court delivered a verdict in favour of Chandrashekhar in mid-May 1993. The judgement said that "The plaintiff is entitled to in total, Rs 17,37,920.78 by way of
special damages and general damages." A medico-legal case of this proportion was unheard of in India. A young patient had sued a hospital for negligence and had won nearly twenty lakhs. Even the cynics of the Indian judiciary were impressed. The hospital appealed against the decision, but ultimately settled after two years. During the trial years Chandrashekhar continued his treatment in India and abroad and worked at the State Bank of India to support himself. He was a
gold medalist of
Madras University (economics) was to work as a cashier. A fight which he felt would not have been necessary had "human spirit prevailed over ego". ==Recovery==