Finding serious lapses on the part of doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) on Monday ordered suspension of two doctors involved in the treatment of nurse Rajbir Kaur who died in 2017 while giving birth to her child.
The direction has come more than a year after the death of Kaur and her newborn (who was stillborn) with the Council stating that doctors from the gynaecology and anaesthesia departments committed a series of procedural lapses that led to the nursing staff’s death. A pregnant Kaur was admitted to the hospital for a normal delivery on January 16 last year. Her pregnancy was classified as a ‘low-risk pregnancy’.
Doctors did not turn up
The hospital, however, itself admitted that there were several lapses in Kaur’s treatment where a junior resident gave general anaesthesia instead of spinal anaesthesia for C-section and also that the consultant-on-call gynaecologist and obstetrician did not come despite several calls.
The patient was kept in the ICU, where she remained in coma for three weeks before being declared dead due to septicaemia and multi-organ failure on February 4.
Delhi Medical Council registrar Dr. Girish Tyagi said, “These results are declared after committee proceedings where a team of experts decide the punishment and put it in front of the General Counsel. This is a subjective punishment and is being given to two doctors who will not be able to practise medicine for a period of one month.”
Unhappy with the Council’s decision Manish Kumar, Kaur’s husband said, “Only 30 days for two lives lost? Is this even a punishment? It feels like I have waited for so long for nothing. They are just sending the doctors out on a vacation and sending wrong signals to others who would think that they can escape any wrongdoing. I’m sure the doctors will be partying today. I am also planning to file a criminal case against these doctors based on the DMC decision that they are guilty.”
Kaur’s death had sparked off protests by the nursing union and senior medical staff leading to termination of a senior doctor and suspension of some doctors back then. Earlier this year, AIIMS named their new bronchoscopy laboratory after Kaur.
Serious lapses
The council has observed lapses on the part of a senior resident (gynaecology), lapses in record-keeping and lapses on part of junior residents.
“The council order added that the junior resident was not qualified and experienced enough to give general anaesthesia to such patients [considered as full stomach]. The patient died due to his incompetence, as it was observed during cross questioning that he could not intubate and ventilate the patient, in addition he could not even diagnose the wrong intubation and cardiac arrest,” the order noted.
The council said, “This whole incident is a poor reflection on the lack of coordination and team work between the gynaecology team and anaesthesia team, which resulted in this unfortunate tragedy. We hope that the senior doctors of both the department would introspect and initiate measures with sincere solemnity, which will ensure a harmonious working of both the departments, so that the patients do not suffer or their lives are not put at risk, in future.”
