A five-member medical board has found a private hospital in Sector 33 guilty of negligence that led to the death of a 74-year-old Mohali woman in April 2024.
A police complaint will now be filed for further proceedings.
The patient Amarjit Kaur, 74, a resident of Sector 63, Mohali, was taken to Landmark Hospital on March 16 after she fell at home. The doctors treated her and asked her to return on April 3. Before her follow-up, her condition worsened, and her sodium level was found to be critically low at 120.
Despite this, the hospital did not admit her, advising her to take medicine and return in three days. On April 4, she had seizures and died 12 days later in the emergency ward of GMCH, Sector 32.
The complaint submitted to the UT adviser, administrator, health secretary, and director of health mentioned that the private hospital had sent a critically ill patient home with medicines instead of providing proper care.
When the patient was later admitted to a government hospital, the private hospital did not provide the necessary records of a femur bone implant. This led to improper treatment, and the elderly woman eventually died, the complaint read.
{{/usCountry}}When the patient was later admitted to a government hospital, the private hospital did not provide the necessary records of a femur bone implant. This led to improper treatment, and the elderly woman eventually died, the complaint read.
{{/usCountry}}The family claimed that on April 7, the government hospital requested an MRI but required a written letter from the private hospital confirming if the patient could safely undergo the procedure. The private hospital refused to provide the letter.
After going through the statements of the stakeholders in the case, the medical board, led by Dr AK Attri, Director Principal of GMCH-32, came to the conclusion that the doctors of Landmark Hospital failed to appropriately address the condition of the patient on follow-up.
Apart from Dr Attri, Chandigarh director health Suman Singh, Government Multi Specialty Hospital-Sector 16 medical superintendent Dr Sushil Mahi, associate professor Dr Naveen Pandey, and president of the Indian Medical Association Chandigarh, Dr. Pawan Bansal were part of the medical board.
Additionally, expert opinions were provided by Sanjay D’Cruz, in-charge of the medical wing of GMCH Sector 32, Prof PN Gupta, Prof Rohit Jindal, and Associate Prof Ashwini Soni.
The committee stated that supportive documents revealing the advice for admission of patient due to low sodium or refusal for admission by the patient or attendants, was not submitted by the doctors of the Landmark Hospital to the committee.
Attempts to obtain a comment from the private hospital on the developments remained unsuccessful.