The following has been posted http://www.pbtindia.com, a website which highlights the negligence of the medical profession in India. I can only convey my heartfelt sympathies to Ankit Kalra and hope the hospital and the two doctors are punished.
Member Cases: Brutal Murder of My Father at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute
By Ankit Dev Kalra
My father, Mr. Sudhir Kumar Kalra, a Mechanical Engineer by qualification and a businessman by profession, died on September 13, 2009 due to gross medical negligence by the doctors at the Escorts Heart Institute in New Delhi, namely Dr. Nishant Chaurasia and Dr. Sameer Srivastava. A brief description of this horrific incidence is given below:
1) My father, a resident of Dehradun, complained of dizziness and some difficulty in breathing on September 10, 2009. He was brought to the S. K. Memorial hospital in Dehradun where he was diagnosed to have a silent heart attack. Dr. Ajay Khanna (doctor in-charge) at the said hospital treated my father for the next 2 days as he recovered slowly. His general condition became stable. Although Dr. Khanna was very optimistic and assured us for a complete and full recovery of my father, he advised that my father would require a cardiac pacemaker.
2) As my father was quite stable by September 13, 2009 and in order to assure the best pacemaker available to use for my father, Dr. Khanna advised that my father may be taken to the Escorts Heart Institute in Delhi for putting the pacemaker. The Escorts Heart Institute obviously has a better reputation in India. As such, in the evening of September 12, 2009, my father was shifted to the Escorts Heart Institute in an ambulance equipped with ICU facilities.
3) Of course, the ambulance took adequate precautions to drive from Dehradun to Delhi and drove slowly this long distance. My father had continuous drips running all the way in the ambulance that contained all the necessary drugs as advised by the doctors from the Dehradun hospital. My father was in quite good condition and talked with us all the while as he was in the ambulance on his way to the Escorts Heart Institute. My brother had already contacted the Escorts Heart Institute and as soon as we reached the said hospital at about 4.30 AM on September 13, 2009, about 7 to 8 nurses came rushing out with a stretcher to move my father inside the hospital. Before we could even accompany the patient, the nurses whisked him away putting a medical gown. They even removed my father’s silver chain.
4) However, as we also rushed inside the hospital within a few minutes, we realized that there was no doctor, senior or junior, available to examine my father. As indicated above, my brother had already contacted Dr. Sameer Srivastava, a senior physician, who had also promised to be there by 4 AM considering the urgency of the matter.
5) After waiting for quite some time, Dr. Nishant Chaurasia walked in almost half asleep. He was obviously sleeping on duty even when an emergency patient was brought in with previous information. Dr. Chaurasia did not even listen to the complete history of the patient and when I tried to share with him the specific directions given by the Dehradun Hospital and tried to inform him that the doctors in Dehradun gave strict and specific instruction that that drips that were running must be continued until the pacemaker is installed. Unfortunately, Dr. Chaurasia had no interest to listen to the history of the patient. He did not even bother to read that prescription/discharge summary given by the Dehradun Hospital. Dr. Chaurasia simply handed me the admission form and asked me to pay Rs. 10,000/- (ten thousand) as hospital charge.
6) It must be emphasized that when we departed Dehradun with my father in the ambulance, Dr. Khanna of Dehradun had emphatically advised us as well as the medical attendant in the ambulance not to remove the IV drip from the patient as contained life-saving drugs for the survival of the patient. Shockingly, the attendants at the Escorts Heart Institute immediately removed the IV drip from my father without reading the discharge summary or caring to know what was there in the IV drip.
7) My father started complaining suffocation, breathlessness and chest pain as soon as his IV drip was removed. He also started to sweat profusely. To our utter shock and bewilderment, my father succumbed to death soon thereafter. When we asked questions to Dr. Chaurasia about this unthinkable situation, he simply ignored us and left the room.
8) Despite the fact that my father had already expired (as was evident from his body), several doctors/nurses rushed in and took my father to an inside room. When we reached the said room, we found a group of doctors/nurses were trying to give cardiac massage to my father. However, there was no cardiac defibrillator used on my father which is a routine thing used in case of heart failure. There was absolutely no reaction to their massage therapy for my father and it was evidently clear that he had passed away. Shockingly enough, the doctors present there kept on telling us that my father was still alive.
9) At about 6 AM, Dr. Chaurasia came up to us with a smirk on his face and asked us to sign a form for the insertion of “ARTIFICIAL PACE MAKER” for my father. Of course, I refused to sign the said form because it was beyond any doubt that my father had already died some time ago and this was nothing but a sinister attempt on part of the Escorts Heart Institute to cover up the act of gross negligence that killed my father. In fact, I came to learn later that they inserted the artificial pacemaker into my father anyway even after his death and without any signature for “consent”.
10) Dr. Sameer Srivastava arrived eventually at around 6.30 AM and candidly admitted before us that my father had died due to negligence committed by Dr. Chaurasia. He also apologized and promised that he and the hospital would punish Dr. Chaurasia for his misdeeds. It must be mentioned that all arrangements for immediate care of my father was made with Dr. Srivastava the night before and despite promising to be there as soon as my father reached the Escorts Heart Institute, he was nowhere to be found until long after the death of my father. This is a brazen violation of medical ethics and a clear transgression of the Section 2.4 of the MCI “Code of Ethics and Regulations” which is mandatory for all physicians in India and which clearly states that a patient must not be neglected at any cost and that a doctor must appear on time to save the life of a patient.
11) After acting a pathetic drama to show that the doctors/nurses were making all attempts to save the life of my father (even though he was dead a long time ago), we were asked to clear hospital bill of Rs. 36,000/- (thirty-six thousand) to take the dead body of my father. However, in a strange development which can only imply medical negligence on the part of the hospital, the said bill was waived for no apparent reason. In fact, the hospital even returned the Rs. 10,000/- that we had paid earlier at the time of admission.
The unfortunate description of the horrific way that my father had to die at the Escorts Heart Institute in Delhi leaves no room for any doubt that my father was a victim of gross medical negligence. The said hospital including the associated nurses/attendants and specifically Dr. Chaurasia and Dr. Srivastava have recklessly treated my departed father even after being fully informed that he was being brought from a long distance for better treatment to the Escort Heart Institute. The way my late father was treated blatantly violated the MCI “Code of Ethics and Regulations” including Sections 1.1.2 (prime objective is to “render service to humanity”), 1.2.1 (should treat patient on “scientific basis”, 2.1.1 (should respond immediately “calls of the sick and injured”), 2.4 (should not “neglect the patient”) and 7.1(violation of any MCI rules).
In view of the discussion above, I earnestly request you to investigate and take immediate disciplinary actions against the brazenly errant doctors and hospitals as mentioned above. The Section 8.4 of the MCI “Code of Ethics and Regulations” also stipulates that complaints against doctors/hospitals must be taken within a period of 6 months and as such, I sincerely hope that you will investigate this matter as soon as possible and take exemplary punitive action against the reckless doctors who caused the untimely demise of my father.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Ankit Dev Kalra,
Address - 4 East Canal Road,
Dehradun - 248001.Uttranchal.
Phone - 0135-2745897
(M) 09719050969
(M) 09811110977
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