Karnataka Medical Council (KMC) has issued showcase notice to SCS Hospitals, Mangalore for gross negligence in the treatment of a patient. The hospital which is represented by and Dr Nitesh, consultant physician and Dr N Shankar consultant neurologist have not administered the correct treatment after the patient's condition turned fatal in two days after admission. The notice has been issued under section 16 of the KMC Act.
According to the case summary, the complainant Dr SR Chandrababu admitted his wife B Jayalakshmi to the hospital after she could not lift her body. During the diagnosis a NECT was carried out on the brain and her condition was reported as normal. There was no improvement in her health and after two days the patient succumbed with breathing difficulty which was brought again to the hospital authorities. The doctors rushed the dead patient to the Intensive Care Unit and later issued the death certificate.
On reviewing the compliant KMC framed the charges against the respondents Dr Nitesh, consultant physician and Dr N Shankar consultant neurologist.
The advocate of the complainant Dr SR Chandrababu argued that the respondents were negligent in treating the patient and was not properly attended. There was no specific diagnosis was made and proper investigations were not carried out. The death certificate was issued stating that the patient succumbed to Guillain-Barré syndrome, an auto immune disease affecting the peripheral nerve systems. However, this is a grave disease and despite all improvements in treatment and supportive care, the death rate among patients with this disease is still about 2-3 per cent even in the best intensive care units.
For the Guillain-Barré syndrome, the hospital had not administered any immunoglobins or any steroids. This amounted to negligence by the respondents.
KMC has heard both the parties and recorded their evidences. The Council experts headed by Dr Chikkananjappa as president, BG Benkappa vice president and Dr N Vidyasagar registrar have confirmed that going by the symptoms of patient who was not able to lift her body, Guillain-Barré syndrome should have been diagnosed instantly. In order to confirm the same a lumbar puncture should also have been carried out. Since the doctors: Dr Nitesh, consultant physician and Dr N Shankar consultant neurologist failed to carry out the required investigations and kept treating the patient with imaginary Hypocalcaemia they went on arguing the same without realizing their mistake. This led KMC to issue the show cause notice to the hospital.