8 years after being accused of Illegal MTP, Gynaecologist gets absolved by MCI

Published On 2019-10-20 14:13 GMT | Update On 2019-10-20 14:13 GMT

Bengaluru: Bringing relief to a gynaecologist who was accused in 2011, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has absolved the doctor from all charges of illegally conducting a Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) procedure on a patient who was 28 weeks pregnant.

The MTP Act allows for termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks. In case, termination of pregnancy is immediately necessary to save the life of the woman; this limit does not apply, says Section 5 of the MTP Act. The pregnancy can only be terminated after a doctor gives second opinion other than the doctor who is to perform the procedure.

According to a recent report by TOI, the case goes back to the year 2011; when the patient had approached the gynaecologist for a consultation. The patient’s husband, who is a doctor in the UK, had alleged that his wife had undergone a criminal abortion at 28 weeks.

The patient was residing in the UK that time and had alleged that her husband had abused her resulting her worrying about the health of the fetus. After the incident, she returned to India and consulted the doctor. During the first session, the patient had no complications. However, 2 days later she reported an amniotic fluid leak.

After examination, the doctor took a second opinion and conducted termination procedure. The patient was accordingly discharged.

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Thereafter, 3 years later, the patient’s husband, a doctor himself, filed a case against the gynaecologist and another doctor, alleging they had carried out an illegal abortion on his wife and accusing them of human rights violations. He charged the doctors with being part of a racket involving the abortion of live fetuses after 20 weeks of gestation, reports TOI.

When the matter reached the Karnataka Medical Council in 2015, the authorities exonerated the doctors and issued an order stating, “The doctors terminated the pregnancy keeping in mind the risks involved to the mother and they did it in good faith.”

Aggrieved with the decision, the complainant doctor moved the Karnataka high court, which again quashed the proceedings against the doctors. Later, the patient’s father in law went to MCI with a criminal abortion complaint.

Justifying the procedure, the gynaecologist stated that amniotic fluid was leaking when the patient approached her for the second time. “I told her to go to an advanced centre but she did not. She may have suffered endometritis [inflammation of the uterus lining] leading to septicaemia," the gynaecologist told TOI , referring to a bloodstream infection that triggers an inflammation that can have a cascading effect and damage multiple organs.

"The fetus condition was declining as amniotic fluid was absent," she said adding that after counselling, the patient and her father gave informed consent for termination of pregnancy. A second opinion was taken from another obstetrician. She delivered a dead fetus the next day.

The apex Medical Council, finally going through the case details gave a clean chit to the doctor.

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Garima

Garima joined Medical Dialogues in the year 2017 and is currently working as a Senior Editor. She looks after all the Healthcare news pertaining to Medico-legal cases, NMC/DCI decisions, Medical Education issues, government policies as well as all the news and updates concerning Medical and Dental Colleges in India. She is a graduate from Delhi University and pursuing MA in Journalism and Mass Communication. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in Contact no. 011-43720751

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