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New Delhi, May 12, 2019 :
Three patients on ventilator support died on Tuesday night at Tamil Nadu’s Madurai Government Hospital due to an unexpected power failure. After the incident, the kin of the deceased patients sat on a dharna in front of the hospital seeking action against the apathy of the concerned officials.
According to the relatives of the deceased, three people died & two more who were on ventilator were fighting for life after a power cut that continued for nearly two & half hours in Madurai.
The power cut happened after rains accompanied by thunderstorms lashed the temple town yesterday night.
Mallika (55), a resident of Melur, Madurai, Palaniyammal (60), a native of Ottanchatiram, Dindigul, & Raveendran (52) from Srivilliputtur, Virudhunagar are the patients who died after the ventilator failure, sources said.
It was a 15 bedded emergency ward for accidental care of the Madurai Government Hospital near Anna bus stand in Madurai. When the thunderstorm happened, the power cut made the ventilators stop working.
Dean Vanitha Mani refuted the charge saying it was natural death due to the patients’ poor physical health. While it is true there was a power cut late in the evening, we had restored power immediately with the help of power back up. The deceased patients have not died due to ventilator failure. They were critical when their relatives brought them here from other private hospitals, she said.
Earlier, at least 14 patients on ventilator support had died in a private hospital at Chennai due to a similar ventilator failure following power outages during the Chennai floods of 2015. (Source: LatestLaws.com]
Unexpected fire, electrical failures are all accidents and will need to be compensated. These can also amount to negligence if the hospital had no ambu bag backup, electrical back up or no policy for medical accidents in the hospital. In the informed consent also there should always be a mention of unexpected complications and death.
Author : Dr KK Aggarwal , Padma Shri Awardee
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