Woman’s body exhumed over medical negligence allegation in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Travel agency employee, Sunil Kumar’s life turned upside down, when his wife, Elizabeth G, 36, died unexpectedly after giving birth on May 13, and was laid to rest the next day. On Friday, they exhumed her body from her grave in Vidyaranyapura for a postmortem after a complaint of medical negligence filed by Kumar.
The complaint was filed with Karnataka Medical Council and an Unnatural Death Report (UDR) was registered by Amruthahally police on May 19.Kumar told TOI that when 35-week pregnant Elizabeth felt breathless and nauseous at about 6pm on May 10, and was rushed to a clinic of Rainbow Children’s Hospitals, she was given pan-D injection.
Kumar, in his complaint, said she was then shifted to MICU at Rainbow Children’s Hospitals in Byatarayanpura at 10pm. She was diagnosed with HELLP syndrome, a serious complication of high BP during pregnancy. He said, doctors conducted tests, and found she had low platelets, the baby’s heart rate had increased, and they had to deliver the baby around 2.30am, during which anaesthesia was given. “They informed me it was a baby girl, weighing 2.8 kg. At 7.15am the next day, Elizabeth spoke to me in MICU. She wanted to see the baby, but the doctors denied as the baby was in NICU, and could get infected.”
Kumar said he was then asked to take his wife to another hospital as there was no ICU bed at Rainbow. He admitted his wife to Bangalore Baptist Hospital. Sunil said a driver from Rainbow approached and gave him a new discharge summary and asked for the old one. He told him that it was with Baptist.
“On May 11 night, doctors said there was water and blood deposited in her stomach. On May 12 morning, they removed the liquid. By noon, CT scans showed bleeding in her brain stem. By evening, the neurosurgeon said it was critical and operation cannot be done, but medicine could be given. By night, she had to be put on dialysis,” he said. By 6am on May 13, the doctor said she had a cardiac arrest, and they’re giving CPR. “At 6.22am, they informed me that my wife passed away,” he said.
Kumar found that the two discharge summaries from Rainbow very different. The first summary said that Elizabeth was given spinal anesthesia, and the second said general anesthesia, he said. “At my wife’s funeral, on May 14, I learnt that only general anaesthesia is prescribed to HELLP patients,” he told TOI. “The Baptist Hospital medical officer hid the actual cause of death as they didn’t send the body to postmortem,” he said in his complaint.
Utkarsh V Agrawal, unit head of Rainbow Children’s Hospital, Hebbal, told TOI denied the allegations and said submissions have been made to KMC, which is looking into the case.
Dr Spurgeon, director of Bangalore Baptist Hospital, said, “She was on ventilator, when she was brought here with low BP. The diagnosis was clear — it is a multi-organ failure. When there is ambiguity is when you offer a postmortem,” he said.
– With inputs from Sankalp S Patil