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Alleged medical negligence snatches away precious life

For 81-year-old Dinesh Kumar Mehra, the world fell apart on November 28 when his wife Kamla Mehra died after fighting…

Alleged medical negligence snatches away precious life

Photo: Getty Images

For 81-year-old Dinesh Kumar Mehra, the world fell apart on November 28 when his wife Kamla Mehra died after fighting a battle in a well-known hospital for a little over two months, owing to alleged medical negligence.

It was September 24. Little did the retired engineer thought that his wife was stepping out of their house in Greater Kailash to get admitted to Max Hospital, Saket ,for one last time.

Terming the tragic loss of his wife a "gruesome murder", Mehra narrating the sequence of events, said, "My wife Kamla was admitted to Max Hospital, Saket after she showed symptoms of Chikungunya. At the hospital, she was referred from one doctor to the other for treatment and was subjected to various tedious tests. However, one particular test- Trans Esophageal Echo (TEE) that uses a long, thin, tube (endoscope) to guide the ultrasound transducer down the esophagus, ruptured her food pipe and proved to be her nemesis. Post the rupture, she underwent a surgery which rendered her speechless".

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"We noticed the change in the attitude of the doctors after the surgery when suddenly they became indifferent towards us as if they knew that Kamla would not survive post this botched up treatment", said Dinesh Kumar Mehra, while speaking with The Statesman.

"The doctors even stopped checking on her during their routine patient rounds post this and Kamla kept lying in a vegetative state, unable to eat or drink or even speak", he said, holding back tears.

Notwithstanding this treatment, the family still wrote to the CEO of the Hospital Rajit Mehta, seeking his intervention in the matter but all in vain. Finally, she breathed her last on November 28.Incidentally, the death certificate issued by the hospital lists "Esophageal Injury " as the first cause of death besides mediastinitis, prolonged sepsis, multi-organ dysfunction and cardio respiratory arrest and the family also insists that she died due to wrongly conducted test.

However, categorically denying any allegations of negligence in the care provided to the patient, Max Healthcare Authorities, in an email statement said, "Kamla Mehra, a 77 years old female had approached Max Hospital, Saket with complaints of joint pain, chills and other dengue/chikungunya like symptoms on September 24, 2016. During her stay in the hospital, it was found that she was also suffering from recurring and persistent bouts of severe breathlessness. She was advised to undergo a TEE, an invasive diagnostic procedure for diagnosing severe valvular heart disease. The patient and her relatives were fully informed of the risks involved and they gave an informed consent for TEE. Unfortunately, while recovering from this procedure she developed some life-threatening complications, which are known to happen in some of the patients. She subsequently underwent surgical procedures to help save her life. Unfortunately, in-spite of our best efforts she suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away," the statement read.

Despite being heartbroken and having lost faith in the hospital, Dinesh Mehra who lives alone with a domestic help, wants to take this fight to a logical conclusion, seeking help from Medical Council of India and the Delhi Government. Determined, he says, "I want these big hospitals to stop running like money making machines and provide real medical care and attention to the patients so that no one loses a family member to such callousness".

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