Controversial deaths of patients : Legal means opened to aggrieved parties
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 24 2013: If there is suspicion that the death of a person inside a hospital is not a natural death or due to the negligence of the doctors and subordinate staff, the aggrieved family and relatives may take recourse to law for initiating punitive actions not only against the particular doctors but also the hospital authority after ascertaining the facts and circumstances under which the patient died instead of raising uproars in the hospital and in the society at large.

There have been many cases of patient parties and their relatives crying foul when a person died in hospital charging that it was not a natural death.

Sometimes even joint action committees were formed which disturbed public tranquillity to varying degrees in the name of fighting for justice.

Talking with The Sangai Express, former Director of the Medical and Health Services, Government of Manipur Dr Sh Shurchandra said that if the patient party is convinced the patient died because of negligence or mistakes on the part of attending doctors, they may initiate action against the particular doctors and the hospital through legal channel.

At the same time, if it turns out that it was an unavoidable case, despite maximum efforts of the doctors, the doctors and the hospital may take up legal action against the patient party on the charge of defaming them.

The only means to confirm the charges levelled against doctors is post mortem of the body.

Only post mortem can establish the cause(s) of the death.

Generally, before administering anaesthesia to a patient who is to undergo surgical operation, the patient is given pre-anaesthetic injection.

This injection would ensure smooth administration of anaesthesia which implies smooth operation.

The doctor recalled an unforunate and sad event in which a patient requiring operation died just after being administered pre-anaesthetic drug even before administering anaesthesia in JN Hospital about nine years back.

Shocked by the incident, the retired Director looked up the medicine dictionary Goodman Gilman and it was found written there that the pre-anaesthetic injection may cause reaction to one in five lakh patients.

There are many brands of pre-anaesthetic injection and they are given before cesarean section for child delivery.

It may cause anaphylactic shock to brain, lung, heart and other vital organs.

Sometimes patients die after operation in post operative ward and there are many reasons for these deaths.

To facilitate smooth operations, patients are given drugs which would make their muscles relaxed.

After such drugs have been administered, lungs are made dysfunctional after they are covered and weighed down by relaxed muscles.

In the meantime, the functions of lungs are substituted by ambubag and endotracheal tube.

Untimely removal of endotracheal tube is a clear case of blunder on the part of attending doctors.

In some cases, patients do not regain consciousness after operation within the expected time and go into a state of comatose leading to death.

In some other cases, patients die due to bleeding in post operative ward after undergoing operation.

Whatever the reasons and causes, if the patient parties feel suspicious, they may complain to the Medical Superintendent and demand post mortem.

Acting on the complaint, the Medical Superintendent would lodge an FIR with police.

After that, post mortem can be conducted.

In case post mortem cannot be conducted immediately, the family should sign an understanding with the hospital authority, explained the retired Director.

After post mortem is completed, the organ which has been identified to have caused the patient's death should be cut into three equal parts and sealed in three buckets filled with formalin.

One bucket should be kept with the forensic team who conducted the post mortem, another with police and the third should be kept with pathology department.

Based on the report of the forensic department, pathology department would prepare a report for further course of action.

There is no need to fear about tempering while preparing the report.

Yet, in case the patient party feels that the report has been tempered, they may send it again to a recognised centre for re-examination.

After thus ascertaining the cause of death, the patient party may demand compensation from the doctors and the hospital authority if it turns out that the patient died due to negligence/mistakes on the part of the doctors/hospital.

However, if the doctors and hospital are not at fault, they too can demand compensation from the patient party for defaming them, said the retired Director.

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