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Row after infant loses arm in Tamil Nadu, family alleges medical negligence
The boy, Mohammed Makir, was born prematurely in the Ramanathapuram district with multiple health complications, said officials.
The amputation of a 1.5-year-old infant’s right arm, which his mother alleges is a case of medical negligence at Chennai’s Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), has sparked a controversy in Tamil Nadu.
Amid the opposition political parties flaying the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) government, the hospital’s departmental inquiry committee of senior doctors will submit a report to the state government on July 4, officials said.
The boy, Mohammed Makir, was born prematurely in the Ramanathapuram district with multiple health complications, including hydrocephalus, a neurological disorder that results in an abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the cavities deep within the brain, said officials.
He weighed only 1.5 kg at birth at 32 weeks (full-term baby weigh from 2.5 to 4kg). After trying to treat him in two other government hospitals in the districts, his parents brought him to Chennai.
Last year, the RGGGH performed surgery to drain the excess fluid by putting a shunt in his head connected to his stomach. “The baby has taken treatment in RGGGH several times in the last 1.5 years,” said health minister M Subramanian.
On May 29, the baby was rushed to RGGGH for emergency surgery when the shunt went through his stomach and came out of his anus. Doctors also performed a revision by putting in a new shunt, officials said.
The ventriculoperitoneal shunt was done when the baby was five months old, said doctors, after he developed severe hydrocephalus due to intraventricular haemorrhage (bleeding into the brain).
He was in the neurosurgical ward since May, and all medicines were administered intravenously. “In the postoperative period, the child developed an acute thrombotic episode involving the right arm, and despite emergency appropriate interventions, the thrombosis progressed rapidly, resulting in a non-salvageable limb,” doctors who treated the baby said.
After a scan revealed gangrene in the infant’s right arm, he was shifted to the Government Institute of Child Health (ICH), Egmore, for the amputation on July 2. A multi-disciplinary team of experts performed an immediate surgery “to save the life of the child.” The baby is being monitored in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU), ICH said.
The thrombotic episode is due to medical negligence, says the mother, Azeesa Abdul. On June 29, the baby’s fingers started turning red, but it was not treated, which is what led to the amputation, she said.
“I told the nurses that his hand is turning red, and they asked us to apply this ointment,” the mother said, showing a red tube to reporters. “If the nurses or doctors had responded when I alerted them, my baby wouldn’t have lost his arm. By the time the duty doctor arrived, his entire arm had turned reddish and numb.”
“I only know that my baby has swelling in his head and that is why we came here for treatment. Now they have removed his hand. Everyone is lying. The government has to answer for my baby losing his hand.”
RGGGH Dean Dr E Theranirajan has formed a committee of seniors comprising a vascular surgeon, a general surgeon and a paediatric haematologist to investigate. “Nurses gave the ointment suspecting thrombosis, and doctors confirmed that there were blood clots, and it was immediately decided that to save the baby’s life we have to amputate the arm,” said Dr Theranirajan.
Meanwhile, former chief minister and leader of the opposition of the AIADMK, Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) demanded that the government ensure such mistakes do not happen again in the state’s healthcare. “When AIADMK was governing, we provided excellent medical health,” said EPS. “But the present DMK government doesn’t care. Children and senior citizens do not get proper treatment in government hospitals.”
However, health minister Subramanian reacted by asking EPS to refrain from defaming the medical sector. “If the committee finds medical negligence, we will surely take action,” he said. “We are being transparent.”
The health minister visited the baby and his parents on Monday. “I’ve given the parents another option,” the health minister said. “If they do not have faith in government doctors, they can go to a private hospital or doctor of their choice, and the government will bear the expenses. We can even take a second opinion from private practitioners to decide if there has been a mistake.”
