BENGALURU: The family of a woman staffer at Rajarajeshwari Medical College Hospital of Mysuru Road on Monday gathered in front of the hospital, and alleged that doctors were responsible for the death of Sumithra R and her newborn.
According to police, at least 10 people gathered near the hospital and alleged that medical negligence by the hospital had resulted in the deaths. They also alleged that Sumithra was moved to BGS Hospital at the last minute after her condition deteriorated.
She died in BGS Hospital.
However, hospital officials rejected the allegations made by the family. “This is not a case of medical negligence, as is being projected. The patient had come to us earlier with some complications. We had asked her family to get her admitted then, but they did not pay heed. During pregnancy, some people develop eclampsia, when the blood pressure shoots up, and they develop a rare complication like a rupture in the liver. It happens in one of five lakh patients. Unfortunately, it happened with this patient,” said Dr Praveen Kumar, medical superintendent at Rajarajeshwari Medical College Hospital.
He added, “We performed surgery to save her, and when we opened the abdomen, blood had collected inside due to bleeding, which did not stop. We did everything we could, but the bleeding did not stop. Another surgery had to be done, and as we didn’t have the facility, the newborn was shifted to BGS Hospital. The child was just 24 weeks old and weighed only 450 gram. A baby’s lungs are not developed, and may have led to her death,” added Kumar.
A senior police officer from Kumbalgodu police station said, “Based on a complaint by Chandrashekar, brother of the deceased, a case of unnatural death was filed, and investigations are on. We are yet to take the doctor’s statement, and will decide whether it is a case of medical negligence, or any other reason after getting a postmortem and expert opinion.”