HRC issues notice to TN Govt over hospital diagnosing false pregnancy

Tamil Nadu: The Human Rights Commission (HRC) has issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu government after a government hospital wrongly diagnosing a woman with tumor as pregnant.

On April 11, Haseena Ameer Ali of Kannagi Nagar had tested positive for pregnancy at Kasturba Gandhi Government Hospital and had been consulting the hospital since.

She lived like a pregnant lady for 10 months and consumed medicines from government hospital. Her due date was in November and it was only after the hospital found that they confused a tumor with pregnancy.

Haseena said ANI, "The hospital gave November 18 as the estimated date of my delivery. For the last seven years I didn't get pregnant. I was totally disappointed. This time, I was keen to become a mother. But, when we went to private hospital we come to know that it's not a baby but a tumor. I was shocked."

"She got her scans in the third, fifth and the seventh month. We have the medical reports and she was also taking regular vitamins and iron supplements and injection too, said her sister Nasrath.

When asked about the incident Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan said that this was a very rare case and enquiries are on as to how to prevent such incidents in the future.

He said that 60 to 70 percent of births in the state occur in government hospitals and that this one incident should not result in all hospitals being labelled as careless.

"In three per cent of the cases, the urine pregnancy test could go wrong and hers would've been one of that," said Dr Vijaya S, Gynecologist of the hospital, after Hasheena had paid nearly a dozen visits. "I think she had psuedocyesis. It is a condition where the person believes she's pregnant, when she's actually not," she added.

Hasheena also has Poly-Cystic Ovary Disorder (PCOD) and a cyst was removed from her abdomen this January. However, rarely does the condition stop menstrual cycle, especially for months as was seen in her case.