A Division Bench of the High Court has asked the State government to ensure that hospitals stick to the highest level of medical ethics and follow the law strictly while undertaking organ transplantation.
The Bench made the observation while closing a writ petition filed by S. Ganapathy, a doctor from Kollam, alleging that most hospitals indulged in malpractices during organ transplantation. The petitioner said hospitals often declared patients brain-dead, even if they were not, to facilitate organ harvest for transplantation.
The two tests
He said hospitals did not do the easier EEG test on patients to determine brain death. They insisted on Apnea test. Such tests were not conducted properly by private hospitals.
The court said World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines on determination of brain death said the Apnea test would be the last resort after the other tests, including EEG, were done. The guidelines did not exclude EEG.
The court said patients and their relatives could easily be misled into believing incorrect facts. The State government had the responsibility to protect them from exploitation. The State government would have to take such allegations seriously to avoid medical fraud and malpractice. It would have to ensure that any failure in the process was dealt with seriously.
Committee formed
The State government had submitted that a committee had been formed to certify brain death and guidelines laid down on the members of the committee. In fact, in cases where Apnea test had to be done, the whole procedure would be videographed. Once videographed, suitable action could be taken if there were flaws.
EEG was a common procedure where even the relatives of a patient could easily make out the situation. There might be occasions where it might draw up a different result, but that did not mean that a common test should be avoided. The court directed the Central and State governments to consider a directive in this regard.
