“Sports was the most important part of her life. She usually listened to me when I told her anything, but when it came to sports she had a mind of her own. That was how important and personal sports was for her,” said Lawrence, as he spoke to TNM about his younger sister Priya who passed away on Tuesday, November 15 due to multiple organ failure as a result of alleged medical negligence. Eighteen-year-old Priya, a promising footballer from Chennai, died days after undergoing a surgery that was meant to repair torn ligaments in her right knee.
A first-year student in the Physical Education department at Queen Mary’s College, Priya was diagnosed with a ligament tear on her right knee. Doctors at the Peripheral Hospital, Periyar Nagar said that it could be mended through surgery. The initial surgery was performed at the hospital on November 7. The very same evening, Priya complained of pain in her legs, following which the doctors prescribed a tight compression bandage and pain medicines. On November 8, she was shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) due to a suspected blood clot in her leg.
Lawrence said that they admitted Priya to the hospital to treat her ligament injury. “But they amputated her leg and endangered her life,” he adds.
Priya’s leg was removed on November 9. But her condition still did not improve. She underwent a second follow-up surgery at RGGGH on Monday, November 14, and remained sedated and on a ventilator. However, she died on Tuesday morning.
Speaking to TNM, Joel, who was Priya’s coach, said that the doctors and the medical staff at the Periyar Nagar hospital did not inform the family about what they were doing and why they were doing the surgery. “When the family asked for the case sheet, they told us there was no case sheet. They sent her to RGGGH with just an attendant in an ambulance. He also just dropped her and left immediately. Why did they do that? The second question is why did they operate on her if they did not have a specialist? They should have sent her to the government hospital immediately,” said Joel.
Meanwhile, two doctors at Peripheral Hospital were earlier transferred after an inquiry found that there was negligence from their side. Addressing a press meet on Tuesday morning, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramaniam said that Priya’s arthroscopy (a procedure for diagnosing and treating joint problems) was done successfully at Peripheral, but the compression bandage wrapped on her leg to prevent blood clotting was wrapped too tightly, causing damage to the blood veins.