Alleged medical negligence: Surgeon, 6 others of private hospital booked under IPC 304A after woman dies during gallbladder surgery

Lucknow: In response to allegations of medical negligence leading to the death of a woman patient during gallbladder-related surgery, a surgeon along with six other staff of a private hospital have been booked by deoria police on Friday in connection with the case.

In addition to the surgeon, the hospital's manager and staff are among the six accused. Despite being booked, the accused are currently on the run, and the police are actively investigating their present locations.

As per a TOI report, the patient in this case is a 35-year-old woman who was admitted to a private hospital in the Badhauchghat area on November 28 for gallbladder stone removal surgery. However, according to the complainant, the patient died during surgery at the operation table but the management allegedly chose to hide the matter from the family members.

The hospital management informed the family members of the woman that she was unconscious and needed emergency care. Hence the hospital staff transferred her to another hospital at the direction of the surgeon without notifying the family, alleged by the complaint.

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Following this, the surgeon was confronted by the family members of the deceased woman, who inquired about the reason for not allowing them to see their patient after the operation. Instead of addressing their concerns, the doctor threatened the family members as claimed in the police report.

In her complaint to the police, the patient's sister-in-law said “The next day, when we went to meet her at the hospital, the staff informed us that Rinki was unconscious and needed to be transferred to another hospital. Without allowing us to see her, the doctor referred her to another hospital. We enquired about her whereabouts from the doctor and staff, but they refused to answer and even manhandled us when we insisted on seeing Rinki and not allowing her transfer. They then put her in an ambulance and drove away."

The family members then reached the other hospital, the doctors there declared her brought dead.

Accusing the surgeon and others of medical negligence, the woman's family approached the Deoria superintendent of police Sankalp Sharma and filed a complaint against the accused after other police at the deoria station refused to file an FIR into the case.

An FIR was registered under IPC’s section 304A (causing the death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act) along with other charges of rioting and punishment for voluntarily causing hurt.

A post-mortem examination was conducted, but the cause of death could not be determined, and the viscera was preserved.

Talking about the case, the SP said "CCTV footage from the hospital is under review, and teams have been formed to apprehend the accused. Additionally, a letter has been sent to the Chief Medical Officer requesting verification of the hospital’s and doctor’s credentials."

An investigation into the case is underway.

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