CHENNAI/PUDUCHERRY: The health department formed a two-member committee to inquire into the death of a 26-year-old man from Puducherry who was admitted to a private hospital in Chennai for weight reduction surgery. The deceased was identified as S Hemachandran, a native of Puducherry.
An official said according to a preliminary report, the man, weighing around 150 kg, who was admitted for a metabolic and bariatric surgery suffered a cardiac arrest on the operation table while the doctors inserted a scope, a medical instrument, through his mouth.
He was immediately shifted to another hospital and was in the ICU for two days. However he died on Tuesday. “If medical negligence is proven, the medical council will take action. Though his family hasn’t lodged a complaint, the health department has taken up an investigation based on media reports,” the official added
Meanwhile, Durai Selvanathan, father of the deceased, told TNIE that his son, an IT professional, learned about the surgery through YouTube videos.
Hemachandran went to a bariatric surgeon at a private hospital in Chromepet and inquired about the procedure a year ago. “After his return, we thought he would forget about it. But calls kept on coming from the hospital and thus he went again in February. The doctor’s assistant said it would cost around Rs 8 lakh,” said Durai Selvanathan. When he said that he could not pay so much, the assistant suggested it could be brought down to Rs 5 lakh at SK Jain hospital, he added.
They went to the hospital and met the doctor who said that it was a simple procedure done by drilling two holes in the abdomen and the patient could be discharged in a day.
As Hemachandran’s blood sugar was high, the surgery was postponed. Selvanathan said his son was admitted to SK Jain Hospital on April 21 and was taken for surgery at 8.55 am the next day. “After 40 minutes, we were informed that there were some complications and they took him to another private hospital,” he added.
Hemachandran was put on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) for 48 hours. The next morning, the staff said there was a slight improvement in his condition. “But I found him lifeless when I entered the ICU,” claimed Selvanathan and added that he suspected medical negligence and went to the police station to file a complaint. “From there, I received a call asking to be there at the hospital immediately. They had declared my son dead.”
Selvanathan also alleged that the hospital authorities decided against a post-mortem and took the body. He was cremated on Thursday.