Doc off the hook for death due to wrong anaesthesia
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Madurai:12.11.2018
The Madurai bench of the Madras high court directed the authorities to discharge a government doctor from criminal prosecution in a case of medical negligency.
In 2011, a woman — Rukmani,34, a tailor — was admitted to the Kanyakumari Government Hospital for a birth control operation. She was administered laughing gas (nitrous oxide) instead of oxygen. She died an year later.
The court held that Dr Muthu Shenbagam, assistant surgeon at the Kanyakumari GH, who was in charge of the hospital stores when the incident happened cannot be held guilty for wilful negligence as he cannot be aware of the change of gas by the firm supplying it.
The doctor moved the high court against a trial court order last year which named him one of the accused in a criminal case.
In the petition, the doctor said the woman was administered anaesthesia for the operation, but during the operation her health deteriorated. Following this the anaesthesia was withdrawn. Later, it was found that the cylinder meant to supply oxygen was filled with nitrous oxide (N2O). So, instead of administering a mixture of oxygen and N2O in a specific proportion, the patient was administered N2O alone.
The woman went into a vegetative state and died in May 2012. Subsequent investigations revealed that the gas company had mistakenly filled N20 in a cylinder which was supposed to carry oxygen.
The Asaripallam police, who registered an FIR, included the doctor as one of the accused, as he was in charge of the stores when the incident happened.
The doctor argued that he was off duty on the day of the incident and he was in no way connected with the accident. “Some of the entries found in the indent form were made by the store keeper without my knowledge and I am not responsible for them,” the doctor said. The doctor also submitted that a departmental enquiry exonerated him of the charges.
The court set aside the trial court order and discharged the doctor from criminal proceedings.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Madurai:12.11.2018
The Madurai bench of the Madras high court directed the authorities to discharge a government doctor from criminal prosecution in a case of medical negligency.
In 2011, a woman — Rukmani,34, a tailor — was admitted to the Kanyakumari Government Hospital for a birth control operation. She was administered laughing gas (nitrous oxide) instead of oxygen. She died an year later.
The court held that Dr Muthu Shenbagam, assistant surgeon at the Kanyakumari GH, who was in charge of the hospital stores when the incident happened cannot be held guilty for wilful negligence as he cannot be aware of the change of gas by the firm supplying it.
The doctor moved the high court against a trial court order last year which named him one of the accused in a criminal case.
In the petition, the doctor said the woman was administered anaesthesia for the operation, but during the operation her health deteriorated. Following this the anaesthesia was withdrawn. Later, it was found that the cylinder meant to supply oxygen was filled with nitrous oxide (N2O). So, instead of administering a mixture of oxygen and N2O in a specific proportion, the patient was administered N2O alone.
The woman went into a vegetative state and died in May 2012. Subsequent investigations revealed that the gas company had mistakenly filled N20 in a cylinder which was supposed to carry oxygen.
The Asaripallam police, who registered an FIR, included the doctor as one of the accused, as he was in charge of the stores when the incident happened.
The doctor argued that he was off duty on the day of the incident and he was in no way connected with the accident. “Some of the entries found in the indent form were made by the store keeper without my knowledge and I am not responsible for them,” the doctor said. The doctor also submitted that a departmental enquiry exonerated him of the charges.
The court set aside the trial court order and discharged the doctor from criminal proceedings.
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