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Doctor ‘leaves’ bandage inside woman's abdomen during childbirth, she dies months later
When her condition deteriorated, she was admitted to another hospital, where a bandage was discovered inside her abdomen
The death of 26-year-old Jyoti Pal at a private hospital in Dehradun has triggered a formal investigation, after her husband alleged that doctors left a bandage inside her abdomen during childbirth.
A four-member committee, headed by Dehradun Chief Medical Officer Manoj Sharma, has been constituted to probe the incident, officials said on Wednesday, news agency PTI reported.
According to the complaint filed by her husband, Prajjwal Pal, Jyoti delivered a son via cesarean section at the Eye and Mother Care Centre in January this year. The husband alleged that doctors left a bandage inside her abdomen during the surgery and stitched her up, a lapse that later contributed to her death.
Everything seemed normal after the childbirth until Jyoti started experiencing severe stomach ache.
The complaint said, “A few days later, Jyoti began experiencing abdominal pain, after which she was taken to the same hospital, but doctors were unable to explain the cause.”
When her condition deteriorated, she was admitted to another hospital, where it was discovered that a bandage inside her abdomen had caused a severe stomach infection. Jyoti later succumbed to the infection.
Although dangerous, such incidents of medical negligence are not uncommon. In a seperate incident in March this year, a doctor in Meerut was booked for allegedly leaving a bundle of cotton inside a woman following a C-section, reported PTI.
The case was registered at TP Nagar police station against Dr Shikha Jain following a court order by Assistant Chief Magistrate Prachi Aggarwal on a complaint by Rajni Sharma. Sharma alleged she gave birth to a daughter at Sirohi Nursing Home on June 30, 2018, where Dr Jain performed the surgery.
Also Read | Karnataka doctor leaves surgical mop in woman's stomach during C-section surgery
In another case, in February, a private hospital in Karnataka’s Puttur faced similar allegations after a surgical mop was reportedly left inside a woman’s stomach during a C-section in November last year. The foreign object was discovered later, necessitating emergency surgery to save her life, said a Times of India report.
