CHENNAI: Prolonged labour and blood loss could have led to the death of the pregnant woman in Kancheepuram district on Tuesday, a preliminary postmortem report has revealed. “There was no internal bleeding. The organs have been sent for pathology tests and only after the final report can we ascertain the cause of death,” said an official source at Government Chengalpattu Medical College Hospital.
The deceased, Sathya, 30, of Perunagar Old Colony in Uthiramerur, was rushed to Manampathy UPHC after she developed labour pain around 4 pm on Tuesday. Sources said she developed complications after delivering a stillborn around 10 pm and was subsequently shifted to Chengalpattu Government Hospital, 40 km away from the UPHC. Doctors at the Chengalpattu hospital had declared Sathya dead on arrival.
Alleging medical negligence had resulted in the death of the woman and the baby, Sathya’s relatives staged a protest on Wednesday. Refuting the charges, officials from the health department in Kancheepuram district said, “The delivery was conducted by a medical officer with the assistance of two staff nurses. The mother was not in the high-risk category and the progression of delivery was smooth. However, her BP dropped following delivery, so the doctor referred the case to the Chengalpattu hospital.”
The officials also denied allegation that postpartum hemorrhage led to the death. “There was no external bleeding, so the medical staff did not suspect anything amiss. We can ascertain the cause of death only after the postmortem report. We have also formed a committee to investigate the incident,” they added.
Meanwhile, sources claimed a 108 ambulance was readied to shift the baby from the UPHC at around 10pm on Tuesday. But, it was sent back. The ambulance was called again at 12.53 am to shift the mother, who was already in a collapsed state by then, the sources further said.
After police held talks, the family accepted the bodies from the hospital on Thursday and conducted last rites. Police said Sathya was working at a private company in SIPCOT near Cheyyur. She married Ragothaman (32), a farmer from Uthiramerur, about a year ago.