Kerala - Kozhikode   

Confusion over patient’s death

Kozhikode: A patient admitted to the Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, died soon after a piece of plaster fell on him from the ceiling on Monday.

The medical college authorities, however, clarified in a press conference here that the death had nothing to do with the freak incident.

M. Damodaran, 55, from Payyoli was admitted to the hospital at 4.30 a.m. on Monday. Hospital Principal Sudheendra Ghosh and Superintendent V.R. Rajendran, during the press conference, said that the patient was brought to the hospital in a serious condition of “massive haemophthisis” and tuberculosis-related complications.

They said that Damodaran was undergoing treatment at the ward 8 after he vomited blood several times. It was then a piece of plaster fell on his thighs.

An orthopaedic scanning and X-ray was carried out on the patient immediately after the incident. “But no injuries were found in the scanning or X-ray reports,” said Dr. Rajendran.

The patient, however, was shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) by noon and he died at the ventilator at 1.30 p.m.

Some relatives of the patient complained to the mediapersons that the death was caused by the incident.

Ruling out the possibility of “a small piece of plastering” causing the death of the patient, hospital authorities said that the final word, however, could be issued only after the post-mortem examination. The medical college police registered a case under 174 (Criminal Procedure Code) for unnatural death, following the incident.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Award for journalist
BJYM march turns violent
Applications invited
Onus on local bodies to grow more paddy: Paloli
Confusion over patient’s death
Marad case: trial of juveniles suspended
Expert warns of scarcity of pepper planting material
Plea to probe assets case against Ajitha

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu