The Delhi Police will file a final report in the Max Hospital Shalimar Bagh case, in which twin babies had died in November 2017, sources said.
A senior police officer privy to the case said though the investigation found negligence on the part of the doctors, “nothing incriminating” was found. “About 30 people were questioned, including doctors, nurses, management and security guards, and procedural errors were found. Everything was communicated verbally and nothing was documented,” the officer said.
‘None chargesheeted’
Sources said that no person has been chargesheeted in the case. “According to the 2005 SC order, the police cannot establish medical negligence, only State Medical Councils can. Here, the Delhi Medical Council [DMC] has the power. The DMC has in its report found no medical negligence,” the officer said, adding that the draft of the report is under review before it is submitted to the court. The Supreme Court ruled that “a simple lack of care, an error of judgment or an accident is not proof of negligence”. The apex court had also said that before arresting a doctor, the investigators will also have to get an opinion from a government doctor.
The DMC, in its order dated May 2, 2018, observed that “no medical negligence can be attributed on the part of the doctors of Max Super Speciality Hospital, in the treatment administered to the complainant’s newborns”. Therefore, the officer said, no person has been chargesheeted in the case, which was registered under Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the IPC.
On November 30, 2017, the premature twins were allegedly declared dead by doctors of Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh and handed over to their parents. The parents realised that one of them was alive only when they were on their way to perform the last rites.
The woman, Varsha, had given birth to twins and the doctors had allegedly declared the girl as stillborn. The boy was declared dead a couple of hours later. The family said the twins were allegedly wrapped in sheets and handed over to them. The boy was found alive while on the way to perform the last rites. He was rushed to a hospital, where he died six days later.
