The Hindu : Front Page : An attempt too costly

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Friday, Nov 11, 2005

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An attempt too costly

K.V. Prasad

RELIEF AT LAST: ENT Surgeon V. Anand examines the tracheotomy patient. — Photo: K. Ananthan

COIMBATORE: Ramaswamy, 34, (name changed on request) rues his suicide attempt four years ago after a family feud.

He survived but lost his voice.

He consumed a pesticide that affected his central nervous system, impeded respiration and cut off his voice.

An endotracheal tube was inserted through his mouth to enable breathing. The friction caused by the tube's movement and the chemical consumed combined to damage the windpipe.

The patient resisted tracheotomy (insertion of a stent through an incision in the throat) to treat the lesions in the windpipe.

As a result, he lost his voice and breathing remained difficult.

Both have been restored after a tracheotomy done here recently. "No one should do what I had done and suffer," says Ramaswamy.

Consultant ENT, Head and Neck Surgeon, V. Anand, who performed the procedure told presspersons on Thursday that suicide attempts by consuming pesticides and acid proved costly. Ramaswamy spent Rs.2 lakhs to stay alive after the attempt. Land was sold in his native Attur near Salem to settle the bills and the tracheotomy cost him another Rs.30,000.

Rejection of tracheotomy ended in problems such as loss of voice that alienated these people from others. Suicides had a socio-economic impact too. Dr. Anand said: "Generally, patients' relatives see this as a surgery. When such emergency cases are brought in, hospitals cannot check for the right size of the cuff of the endotracheal tube. It is just pushed in to save the patient. If not removed in four to five days and tracheotomy done, it will cause lesions that will result in problems (such as in Ramaswamy's case)."

Dr. Anand also regretted the availability of sulphas powder (chemical substitute for cow dung) despite the ban on it. Most suicide attempts were made with this.

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