BENGALURU: This is a horror story which is growing increasingly repetitive in Bengaluru, as the coronavirus crisis grow acute -- a patient in distress, indifferent doctors, demand for a Covid test, lack of beds, negligence, and finally, death.
In this case, Venkataswamy, an 80-year-old man suffering from a heart ailment was denied entry into the emergency section of Columbia Asia Hospital, where he had been under treatment for six months. His daughter-in-law, Smitha Srihari, narrated the family’s ordeal last Thursday.
“My husband, a doctor, and my mother-in-law rushed him to Columbia Asia, and he was slipping in and out of consciousness. His pulse rate and blood pressure dropped and he had water retention in both his legs. They said that all beds were allocated for Covid patients. My husband pleaded with the doctor in emergency to put him on life support, while he looked for another hospital,” Smitha told TNIE.
All the hospitals they tried to get a bed in, including Columbia Asia, insisted on getting a Covid test though it was an emergency, the family said.
“The doctor said he could sit outside in a wheelchair, and they would administer drips. After two hours of waiting outside the emergency section, he collapsed, and they took him inside,” she added. He was put on ventilator, and her husband saw that the emergency room had only one occupied bed and the remaining seven beds were empty. The doctor showed no empathy and kept yelling, she added.
“We finally found a bed at Aveksha Hospital. However, he was unconscious and suffered a heart attack, and passed away in the ICU. If Columbia Asia had admitted him, he would have survived,” she rued. Smitha shared the ordeal in a Facebook post.
In response to TNIE’s query, Columbia Asia Hospital said in a statement that their Hebbal branch received a call from a private doctor, on the evening of July 23, saying she wanted to send an elderly stable patient with abnormal breathing pattern for admission.
“The hospital informed that only ward beds were available, and no ICU bed was vacant. On being informed that he was stable and did not need ICU facilities, the ER consultant asked for the patient to be sent... After initial examination, it was found that he was in severe distress and required immediate ICU care and the family was told that the patient would be resuscitated and stabilised and then shifted in an ACLS ambulance to another hospital with ICU,” the hospital said.
“The treatment, including intubation and ventilation support, was done after which the family became abusive, refused an ACLS ambulance and shifted the patient to another hospital on their own. This patient had lower respiratory infection, multiple comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension, COPD and bacterial and fungal sepsis and was in severe septic shock. He required immediate ICU care. However, the family and private doctor insisted on admission to the ward which was not advised. It was suggested that the patient be shifted out and all help was offered, but the family refused,” the hospital said.