Surgical device removed from woman’s body

: Doctors at the Government Medical College recovered a part of a surgical instrument from a woman’s body, which had broken off and fallen into the abdominal cavity while she underwent a hysterectomy at the Nedumangad taluk hospital on Thursday morning.

The patient, Laila Beevi (45), of Tholikkode, is recovering well at MCH.

Much furore was kicked up by a mob at Nedumangad hospital on Friday alleging that the doctors had been negligent in “leaving behind” the foreign body inside the woman and that the hospital had “bundled off” the patient to the MCH without attempting to remove the instrument themselves.

However, senior surgeons at the MCH maintained that the doctors at the Nedumangad hospital recognised the problem immediately and had done the right thing by referring the patient to the tertiary hospital.

“An instrument slipping off or breaking off and falling into the abdominal cavity — in this case a “towel clip,” which is used to hold back the uterus — is an unexpected event. It is not easy to recover this from the abdomen by exploring through the incision done for hysterectomy. The doctor immediately understood that that a laparotomy (open abdominal surgery) would have to be performed to recover it. He contacted the General Surgery department directly and explained the situation and we agreed to take over,” C. Jayan, Additional Professor of General Surgery, MCH told The Hindu

The preliminary inquiry conducted by the District Medical Officer held that prima facie, there was no negligence on the part of the doctor who performed the hysterectomy.

The instrument breaking off cannot be held as his mistake. What is pertinent is the fact that the doctor recognised the problem and did everything possible to ensure the patient’s welfare, the report said. Director of Health Services R. Ramesh said a detailed inquiry would be conducted by the Additional DHS (Vigilance) and an expert gynaecologist, to ascertain the facts. The State Human Rights Commission took a suo motu case in the incident and sought an explanation from the Health Department.

Poor quality instruments

Senior doctors at MCH told The Hindu that the crux of the issue was being ignored, while everyone, including politicians and the mob, bayed for the doctor’s blood. “As doctors, we have no control over the fact that we have to work with surgical instruments of poor and substandard quality, which are procured and supplied by the government agency.”