A cardiac anaesthesia consultant with Apollo Hospitals on Wednesday told the Commission of Inquiry looking into the death of Jayalalithaa that about 11 hours after she had suffered a cardiac arrest, the former Chief Minister’s heart had worked on its own for half an hour.
Apollo Hospitals’ counsel Maimoona Badsha said that Dr. Minal Vohra, who appeared as a witness, had told the Arumughaswamy Commission that Jayalalithaa had an intrinsic heart rhythm for half an hour at 3.20 a.m. on December 5, 2016. She was connected to an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation device at that point, having suffered a cardiac arrest at 4.20 p.m. the previous day.
Dr. Vohra, a member of the team that connected the former Chief Minister to the ECMO device, referred to her inpatient consultation notes to back her observation. It was for the first time that the commission was told that Jayalalithaa’s heart worked on its own after her cardiac arrest.
‘Not tutored’
Multiple sources said that during examination by the Commission’s standing counsel S. Parthasarathy, Dr. Vohra was asked if she had been tutored for the purposes of the testimony. She denied she had been tutored.
On Monday, cardiothracic surgeon T. Sunder had told the Commission that Jayalalithaa had a gag reflex at 4.30 p.m. on December 5. On Wednesday, Dr. Vohra corroborated that observation and added that the previous night, doctors had observed spontaneous breathing and eyeball movements on Jayalalithaa while she was connected to the ECMO device.
Ms. Badsha, who briefed reporters after the deposition, said that the intrinsic heart rhythm was considered a sign of life. “It did not mean that she was completely cured. However, it was an encouragement for doctors to continue trying to save her life till the last minute,” she said.
The Commission also examined Mr. Kamesh, a technician at the hospital’s critical care unit. He said he continued the massage till 9 p.m. Doctors told the Commission that she had been connected to the ECMO device by 5.30 p.m. Her heart was not massaged once the device was functional. During cross-examination, Apollo’s counsel Badsha established that since Mr. Kamesh was not a doctor, he was not aware of procedures.
