Dentist suffocated to death in OT; clinic staff booked for negligence

Dentist suffocated to death in OT; clinic staff booked for negligence

Kiran.Parashar@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:10.06.2020

Eighteen days after a 26-year-old dentist died in a Sarjapur Road clinic where he worked, city police on Monday booked a case of death due to negligence.

The development came in the wake of the postmortem finding that carbon monoxide, emitted by a generator in the building, could be the cause of the dentist, Dr Nithin Shetty’s death and his family members filing a police complaint.

The family members identified as suspects two individuals connected to the clinic, which is part of a large dental healthcare network in South India.

Nithin was from Mangaluru and got married on February 7. He joined the clinic at Kaikondarahalli on Sarjapur Road on May 21 but did not go to work due to the lockdown.

He resumed duty on May 20. The next day, he left for work by 9.30am. At 2.35pm, Nithin called his wife Deepthi Alva over the phone and told her that there was no electricity in the building as well as the clinic. Nithin then told his wife that he did not know where the generator was installed and that he would be calling the attender to find out where the generator switch was located, according to the complaint.

When Nithin did not respond to her calls later, Deepthi alerted her family members and friends. At 9.30pm, Nithin’s friend Dhawan went to the hospital and found that the former had collapsed in the operation theatre and was bleeding from the mouth. He was taken to Columbia Asia hospital where he was declared brought dead.

After the postmortem report suggested he suffocated to death due to carbon monoxide, Bellandur police registered a case under IPC section 304 (a) (causing death by negligence). Nithin’s family suspects he had switched on the generator and returned to the OT which had no ventilation and carbon monoxide from the generator might have filled the building, leading to his death.

Deepthi’s brother Akash filed a complaint against two clinic officials. “We’ve questioned them and sent evidence for forensic examination,” police said.

Nithin Shetty, who had gone to the clinic on May 21, called his wife to tell there was no electricity. He reportedly switched on the generator and carbon monoxide filled the building. He was found bleeeding from the mouth in the OT which had no ventilation