October 7 could have been a very special day for Bengaluru-based couple Isha Tripathi and Ankit Tripathi. After a healthy pregnancy, Isha went into labour around 8am that morning. The couple rushed to a hospital in Bannerghatta for the delivery. But things went downhill as the day progressed. Isha and Ankit’s baby girl was born at 4.40pm. But by the end of the day, it became clear that Isha may not make it.
“They killed my daughter,” alleges JP Shukla, Isha’s father. Her family believes that Isha would have been alive, had they performed an emergency cesarean section. The family has filed a complaint of medical negligence under section 304A of the IPC against the gynecologist the couple was consulting, and the hospital.
What happened on October 7
Isha’s due date, according to the police complaint filed by Isha’s father, was October 16. TNM has a copy of this complaint, which also states that Isha’s reports during the pregnancy were normal and there were no “complications or deficiency”.
Both Ankit and his mother had accompanied Isha to the hospital on October 7. She was given epidural to ease her pain at 10am. She was also given an injection which would help dilate her cervix further.
It was only at 12pm when the doctor allegedly visited her for the first time. She added Isha would be administered more injections to help with dilation. Immediately after this the doctor went away and remained negligent towards the patient, the complaint says.
Another dosage of epidural and few hours later, Isha had begun crying badly with the pain. “But the doctor did not consider adopting alternative method of cesarean delivery,” Isha’s father alleges in the complaint, “instead, they decided to use vacuum extraction unprofessionally and criminally neglecting the severe condition of Isha Tripathi (sic).”
After Isha’s daughter was born at 4.40pm, the complaint says that the doctor congratulated the attendants, and left when Isha needed intensive care. About 20-30 minutes after the delivery, Ankit told TNM, he found Isha shivering violently. When he asked a duty nurse why Isha was shivering, she allegedly told him it was because of a drug they had given her to stop the bleeding.
Isha’s family says her condition continued to deteriorate. It was only around 6.40 pm that the doctor came.
Instead of treating Isha Tripathi properly, they conspired to criminally evade the situation and decided to shift the patient to another hospital in order to avoid the legal responsibility without any consent of Isha Tripathi’s attendants, the complaint says.
Isha, who had lost consciousness by this time, could not be revived by other doctors either. They declared her dead at 10.40 pm says the family.
When contacted by TNM, the hospital provided a statement which said that "the well-being of the mother & the baby was given utmost priority & all steps & procedures required to ensure the same were undertaken."
The statement also said that both Isha and her baby were "in good health" and were interacting with family members until the mother suffered "a sudden maternal collapse". Contrary to the family's claims, the hospital said life support was given to Isha before she was shifted to the other hospital's emergency unit.
The hospital also says that Isha died only at 12.30 am on October 8.
‘We were not informed of the risks’
Isha’s family says that they were not informed of any potential and “neurological or cardiological complications” or if the hospital had the facilities to deal with them.
Ankit alleged that he was made to run from pillar to post to get the rest of the documentation as well. “When I went there to settle the bill on October 10, I asked for the bed head ticket,” Ankit says. A bed head ticket would have given them details of what medicines were administered to Isha during the delivery.
“I asked them for the bed head ticket for the post mortem again, but they refused. They said they only give the discharge summary to patients. But we need to know what drugs were given. We deserve to know why we lost Isha,” Ankit says vehemently.
The post mortem report, which Isha’s family received on Sunday, reserves the opinion on the cause of death due to want of “histopathology, hospital treated records and chemical analysis report.”
When asked about the bed head ticket, a representative from the hospital said that while the details of the medication and treatment were shared with the family, the hospital would only share the detailed records on intervention of a court asking for the same.
The family is still trying to deal with the loss. “She was such a calm, happy girl. She spread positive energy wherever she went… We are just trying to console each other at this point,” JP Shukla says.
“I have completely lost my world. I have nothing to lose now. We were only married a year and a half ago. We had so many dreams and hopes for our future, for our child. How I am dealing with all this even I don’t know,” Ankit says.