[Resolved]  Max Hospital — Medical Neglignce and Deficiency of Service

Complaint against Max Hospital for Negligence and Deficiency of Services

This has reference to the sudden and untimely demise of my daughter Dr Nitika Manchanda, 30 yrs. She was admitted to Max Hospital, Pitam Pura, Delhi on 3rd morning and delivered a baby boy at 5.41 am. She was doing well till 10 pm on 4th may and then due to negligence of doctors and deficiency of services at hospital, she lost her life and was declared clinically dead on 12.30 pm on 5th may. Please try to find answers on the following respects and punish the guilty.

1. Is child birth a disease – of which healthy people loosing life?
Nitika Manchanda, who worked as an assistant manager with Genpact India, had no medical history or any abnormality. She got her last Doppler Study done on April 24th which was normal. She gave birth to a boy baby on 3rd May through C-Section and lost her life foe no obvious reasons on 5th May leaving behind 2 day old child. To add on, Hospital authorities are perplexed about the cause of Death.
FAILURE TO ADDRESS PREVENTABLE DEATH IS THE GREATEST INJUSTICE OF ALL TIMES

2. Does a new onset pain after 36 hours of delivery NOT require special attention and investigation? – Simple principle ignored
It was about 10.00 pm on 4th May when Nitika complained of abdominal pain and backache and the condition of the patient was informed by the attending nurse to the doctor on duty. It was assumed a normal Post operative pain and was advised a painkiller. At 11 pm when the patient had no relief, the doctor advised some more painkillers and sedatives. Further at 2 am on 5th May, the severe pain was complained of again. She was shivering and vomited, doctor yet again advised some injection without bothering to know the pathology behind the symptoms. At 6.30 am the patient’s condition further deteriorated but the doctor repeated painkillers and sedatives without going for detailed investigation. At 7.30 the patient’s blood pressure was recorded as 80/40 and at this point of time the doctors thought of shifting the patient to ICU. Lot of time was wasted in administrative issues due to unavailability of bed in ICU; she was received in Post Operative at 8.30 am.
As per hospital records at 11.00 pm on 4th May itself, the doctor on duty felt the need to ‘inform/call anesthetists for lower backache’ and later the same doctor is reported to have’ informed anesthetist (Dr Preeti)’ who advised ‘mobizox’ without even visiting the patient. It was not given till 7 am next day due to reasons best known to them. Moreover the doctor/nurse failed to inform/call anesthetists, perhaps they forgot after giving sedatives to the ‘patient’. Nitika’s phone call at about 11.00 pm to the mobile of Dr. Alka Gupta, the gynecologist surgeon was also not awakening for the doctor. It is also to be verified if the doctor on duty (Dr. Pooja) holds a valid degree & experience of gynecology and competent to take care of such cases.
NEGLECTED POST OPERATIVE CARE WAS A DENIAL TO HER RIGHT TO LIVE

3 Was Basic Infrastructure appropriate? – Lifts and Blood Bank, pathetic situation
There are only 2 small size lifts in this 10 floor building. One of the lifts stops only at selected floors. Nitika was allotted room no. 1415 on 4th floor. The baby was kept in nursery at 8th floor. For feeding baby every time she was being taken on a wheel chair to nursery and average time taken for every single side painful movement was 15 minutes which can be exhausting for a lady who had just gone through a C-section.
It is strange that the hospital which claims 24 hour emergency does not have its own blood bank and the nearest blood bank is located at Shalimar Bagh which is about 5 km from the hospital. It was neither informed to us by the consultant doctor, Dr Alka Gupta before the surgery or any of the antenatal care visits. Moreover, the hospital has no co-ordination with the blood bank and the family was sent on wild goose chase for blood. When the family asked for the contact numbers of the blood bank which could help them locate, they didn’t have any. In fact the requirement of blood was felt first at about 7.30 am, she was brought to post operative at about 8.30 in collapsed state but we were given samples not before 9.00 am. After two hours requirement was generated for arranging platelets of O+ donor and this time whole process took about 2 hours at the blood bank; but she was declared dead before platelets could reach the hospital.
HOSPITAL WAS NON EQUIPPED TO HANDLE EMERGENCY OBSTETRIC CARE

4 Is hiding facts NOT a grave offence?
According to the death summary submitted by consulting gynecologist Dr Alka Gupta, “Nitika complained on backache on the morning of May 5, and despite all resuscitative procedures she could not be revived”. As a matter of fact Nitika had been complaining of abdominal pain and backache since 10 pm on May 4 and she was prescribed painkillers and sedatives whole night by the attending doctors/nurses without diagnosing cause of pain. The Nurses Daily Assessment/ Night Notes of the hospital records clearing unveil false claim of the hospital.

I request you for an in depth investigation of the causes and circumstances surrounding this untimely maternal death to take the matter further and take strong steps against the responsible doctors/nurses and the money minting hospital which has no right to leave a 2 day child motherless. None of my efforts now would bring my daughter back; however your unbiased investigation can help save many more precious lives.

Rgds
S.P.Manchanda
C-2/35 B, Keshav Puram, Delhi-110035
Email: [protected]@yahoo.co