Family alleges hospital laxity killed foetus

The hospital, ignoring the norms for forensic analysis, didn’t even send the foetus for post mortem.

 The family of a 23-year-old woman from Gorai have alleged that delayed emergency care and negligence by a municipal hospital resulted in the death of her foetus.

Pushpa Gupta, who had reached her full-term pregnancy, was brought to Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivli at 6.00 pm on September 11 after she started experiencing acute labour pain. “She was admitted in the labour ward but for two hours nobody checked her.,” said her husband Dhiraj.

The doctors reportedly checked Pushpa at 8.30pm and decided to discharge her. “They said she was due for a normal delivery and asked me to get her admitted next morning,” Dhiraj added.

Pushpa was brought back to the hospital again at 4.30am on Monday when the pain was unbearable and she couldn’t breathe. “She was again admitted in the labour ward and the doctors checked her only during the routine checkup at 10.30am. Upon checking, the doctors said that couldn’t find the pulse of the foetus,” said a family member, who works in the hospital.

The doctors allegedly took two more hours to do an ultrasound test which showed that the foetus has succumbed to nuchal cord (strangulation caused due to umbilical cord). Pushpa delivered the dead baby normally at 4.30 pm.

While the medico legal norms set by home department, clearly state that every death at the hospital within 48 hours of admission should go through a forensic analysis, the hospital discharged the woman and handed over the body of the foetus . The hospital, ignoring the norms for forensic analysis, didn’t even send the foetus for post mortem.

The family said that on September 5, when she was rushed to the hospital for acute pain and doctors had sent her back home, no ultrasound test was done to ensure the condition of the foetus.

Dr K Pimple, medical superintendent of the hospital, was unaware of the incident and said that the woman is still at the hospital under observation. “There was no such delay on the part of the doctors and the woman is still admitted in the ward. The foetus succumbed due to medical complications,” said Pimple.

Dr Rekha Davar, HOD gynaecology, Sir J J Hospital and Grant Medical College, said that in such cases, the doctors need to do an ultrasound test upon admission if they find any anomalies. She added that no medical complications arise if the dead foetus remains inside the womb and depending upon the condition of the mother, can wait for 24 hours if necessary.