35-year-old patient dies during treatment at Thiruvananthapuram Hospital, kin alleges medical negligence

Thiruvananthapuram: The family members of a 35-year-old man from Palode, who died due to reported cardiac arrest while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the city alleged medical negligence on the part of the doctors and hospital staff.

The family members alleged that the patient did not receive adequate treatment and senior cardiology doctors failed to visit the patient promptly after he was admitted due to breathing difficulties, while the junior doctors insisted that he was fine.

Holding the doctors and staff responsible, the family alleged that medical negligence on the part of the hospital staff resulted in his death.

The incident took place after the patient was admitted to the casualty department of SK Hospital at Edapazhanji, in the wee hours of Tuesday. He suffered a heart attack on Monday following which he was first admitted to the Nedumangad Taluk Hospital. From there, he was shifted to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital where no beds were available. As a result, the family members shifted him to a private hospital.

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The doctors at the private hospital confirmed that he had suffered a heart attack but according to the family, the patient did not receive appropriate treatment. When his condition worsened, he was moved to a ventilator where he died later.

The uncle of the deceased told TNIE, “There was no bed available at the Medical College Hospital and Akhil was having breathing discomfort. So, he was taken to another private hospital where the doctors confirmed he had a heart attack. On their advice, we shifted him to SK Hospital by 1 am. The doctors at the casualty were shown all the medical reports, but they maintained his condition was okay and there was no cardiac issue,” Abhilash said.

“We alerted Poojappura police sensing that something was fishy. The police came and talked to the doctors. The doctors flipped their stand and said the patient was in a bad shape and he had to be moved to some other hospital for better treatment. While we were discussing the hospital shift, they announced that he had died due to a massive cardiac arrest,” he added.

Following his death, the relatives of the deceased filed a complaint at the police station and a case for unnatural death was registered accordingly. The police sent the deceased body for autopsy at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College hospital on Wednesday. After the examination, the body was handed over to the relatives by evening.

Meanwhile, the private hospital denied the allegation of medical negligence and said that all possible efforts as per established treatment protocols were taken to save the deceased.

Dr Sandhya Pradeep, chief executive officer of SK Hospital, told TNIE, "The patient was brought to the hospital on Monday night. He was first taken to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital and then to a private hospital in Sasthamangalam."

“The relatives of the already sick patient took him to SK Hospital after taking him to two other hospitals. He was diagnosed as having heart-related issues and was asked to undergo an angiogram. But on examination, it was found that the patient did not have to undergo an angiogram as his lungs were already white in colour. He died on Tuesday around 8 pm before anything could be done," she added.

Medical superintendent Dr Syam Sunder O S in a statement said, "The patient had a history of alcohol use and severe aortic stenosis, confirmed by old records. During treatment, the patient had a cardiac arrest but was revived and underwent an emergency angiogram, which showed normal coronary arteries. An ECHO cardiogram revealed severe aortic valve stenosis and a chest X-ray showed severe pneumonitis."

Further, the statement said "At SK Hospital, the patient had an increased heart rate, low blood pressure, and signs of left ventricular hypertrophy, but no heart attack. The hospital is open to scrutiny by technical and legal authorities and extended full cooperation to any form of inquiry into the matter. The hospital authority further alleged that the patient’s bystanders were uncooperative and abusive, requiring police intervention.

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