After a preliminary investigation into the death of a 33-year-old woman at a private fertility hospital here, the police have decided to refer the matter to medical experts to probe the charge of negligence.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) H.T. Shekar said they were awaiting the post-mortem report and the forensic findings.
A case of medical negligence can be taken up only if the forensic report indicates an overdose of anaesthesia, the police said. The deceased Pushpa and her husband Srinivas, who were married for three years, had approached Mediwave IVF and Fertility Research Hospital for infertility treatment.
Director of the hospital C. Sharath Kumar said the woman underwent a diagnostic laparoscopy on Friday. However, three hours after the procedure, she collapsed following cardiac arrest, he said. She was rushed to Columbia Asia hospital, where they tried to revive her, but in vain.
“There was no negligence on part of the hospital or the doctor,” Dr. Kumar said. He ruled out the possibility of anaesthesia overdose as the patient had even been shifted to the ward, where she was in a position to talk.
Pushpa’s relatives protested outside the hospital on Friday and lodged a complaint of negligence with the jurisdictional Mandi police. “We have registered a case of unnatural death. Based on the post-mortem and forensic report, we will decide whether to proceed on medical negligence,” said police inspector Lakshmikant Talwar.
District Health Officer (DHO) Basavaraju said an inquiry can be taken up under the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act by the district-level authority, headed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Mysuru Zilla Panchayat and the DHO as the member-secretary.
The authority’s findings will be referred to the Karnataka Medical Council, which in turn will ascertain whether the person who performed the medical procedure was authorised to do so and if a case of medical negligence had taken place.
