The Hindu : Front Page : Tension over ‘brain-dead’ patient

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Monday, Aug 03, 2009
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Tension over ‘brain-dead’ patient

Special Correspondent

She was found to be breathing after her relatives arranged for the funeral

— S.R.RAGHUNATHAN

AGITATED: Relatives of the patient, Azhagammai, wait outside the hospital in Guindy on Sunday.

CHENNAI: Tension prevailed outside a private hospital in Guindy on Sunday morning after a patient, who was declared “brain-dead” by the hospital, was found to be alive. Police tried to pacify an agitated group that had gathered outside the hospital. However, the patient died in the afternoon.

On Sunday morning, the family of Azhagammai (53), a patient who recently underwent a surgery for a brain tumour, complained that the hospital had declared her ‘brain-dead’ even while she was breathing without life support.

According to the relatives the doctors had told the family on Saturday night that she was ‘brain-dead’ following which they made arrangements for the funeral.

On Sunday, the family members came to know that she was breathing even after the ventilator support was withdrawn. They wanted to know why the hospital did not inform them of the improvement in the patient’s condition. As the word spread, a crowd gathered outside the hospital, even as the IMCU duty doctor had a heated exchange with the patient’s family.

Around noon, the situation became tense. “Had the duty doctor informed us last night that my mother was breathing we would not have made the funeral arrangements,” said Egammai, who waited in the hospital lobby while the doctors held a meeting with the police.

“The patient was improving because she was on oxygen pump and life support,” a spokesperson of the hospital said. “The duty doctor had informed the consultant doctors about the patient’s condition. We have eight patients in the intensive care unit and we cannot be calling their families to inform them about the patient’s condition The family should have discussed with us before making the funeral arrangements,” he added.

St. Thomas Mount police said no complaint was made.

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