Following the death of one Lovito Chophy (37 years) at District Hospital Dimapur (DHD) in August last, the brother of the deceased- Kuputo Chophy, through his legal counsel, had issued a legal notice to the concern authorities of the Health & Family Welfare (H&FW) department alleging that his brother had died due to medical negligence.
The aggrieved party had also demanded compensation (lump sump amount of Rs. 35,00,000) within 30 days and warned of legal action in the court of law if it failed to act.
In the notice addressed to H&FW commissioner secretary, principal director, CMO Dimapur and MS DHD pointed out that Lovito was brought to the hospital on August 16, 2020 at around 2 a.m. Before being allowed entry into the corridors of the hospital the lawyer said that the patient was made to wait in the vehicle for about an hour.
It also claimed that despite the patient’s deteriorating condition, no emergency doctor was deputed to examine the patient. It was only after a nurse attended to the patient, and on own her own observation, a portable oxygen cylinder was provided.
After 10-15 minutes, the oxygen ran out and the attendants (brother and friends) had to run from pillar to post requesting the hospital staff to replace the same, but yielded with no result as they were told that oxygen cylinders were unavailable , the notice stated. To this, the lawyer observed that the hospital authority had acted negligently in not providing or making available basic life saving equipment and emergency services etc. causing irreparable damage and loss to the family.
While stating that the aggrieved party was well aware of the COVID-19 SOP for admitting patients, the lawyer said that the Truenat test report of the patient had returned negative. Despite testing negative and repeated pleas, the patient was not admitted and was left dying unattended, the lawyer stated.
After waiting for four long hours, the patient died unattended and was again made to wait for another two hours, the lawyer said. Later, a doctor arrived and issued a discharge slip stating that the patient was diagnosed with “ARDS hypovolemic shock, covid 19 treatment negative”.
Further, the lawyer stated that the aggrieved party’s request for a post-mortem was denied on the pretext that conducting post-mortem would involve meandering procedures and paper works.
Citing these reasons, the lawyer said that the negligence to give timely medical attention had not only caused death of a patient but deprived a woman of husband and three minors a father and source of income and support besides mental, emotional pain, that was irreparable and beyond any kind of compensation.
The lawyer said that the deceased was a skilled labour and the sole bread earner of the family.