Delhi High Court orders MAMC to form Medical Board to investigate into 2.5yrs old boy’s death at Max Hospital
Child's father alleged that his son died on February 9, 2020, and no satisfactory reason for the cause was provided by the hospitals or doctors involved. He alleged that both hospitals and all doctors have "conspired to hide the facts and the truth."
The Delhi High Court has ordered the Maulana Azad Medical College to form a Medical Board to investigate the death of a two-and-half-year-old boy at Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh allegedly due to "negligence and malfeasance."
Justice Jasmeet Singh observed that the child died on February 9, 2020, after being admitted to Max Hospital for simple dysentery with no known allergies or history of illness.
Court noted that there has been no investigation into the matter for nearly two and a half years due to lack of medical opinion.
Himanshu Singhal in his plea before the high court submitted that he took his son to Max Hospital on February 5 due to fever, cough, loose stools, and a running nose; the doctor at the hospital diagnosed the illness as "simple dysentery" and recommended that the child be admitted to the hospital for rehydration.
He further submitted that the next day, a surgeon arrived to examine the child for the first time, and based solely on a "visual and negligent examination" performed from a distance, the surgeon diagnosed the child with acute Anal Fissure and prescribed a contraindicated drug in loose motions — Movicol — a strong laxative used to treat chronic constipation.
Singhal stated that shortly after receiving Movicol, the child began passing uncontrollable amounts of urine and his condition deteriorated.
"Several tests were performed on the child to hoodwink and mislead, including a painful lumbar puncture test, only for the doctors to pretend that they were doing their best to ascertain the mysterious cause of sudden deterioration despite already having 'exclusive knowledge' in their domain," Singhal added.
He further stated that the child was transferred to their sister branch Max Super Speciality Hospital Saket in an extremely unstable and shock condition on February 7, 2020, to conceal negligence, prevent death at their center, and avoid legal consequences.
It was further added that the child died on February 9, 2020, and no satisfactory reason for the cause has ever been provided by the hospitals or doctors involved.
Singhal alleged that both hospitals and all doctors have "conspired to hide the facts and the truth."
The counsel appearing for Singhal contended that the hospitals had even refused to provide 'complete medical records' pertaining to the deceased child and the parents have been running from pillar to post in search of justice.
It was further contended that they have no faith in the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) because it is a regulatory body for doctors and cannot provide an unbiased expert opinion.
It was also claimed that they lack the authority to provide an expert opinion under the DMC Act of 1997.
Conclusively, Court ordered that the complete medical record pertaining to the deceased child be sent to the Dean, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, to form a medical board and the board will provide its report within 6 weeks.
Court further directed that the parents of the deceased should be informed of the meeting of the Committee and they shall be permitted to participate in the proceedings of the same.
Accordingly, Court listed the matter for October 17 for further hearing.
Case Title: Himanshu Singhal & Anr. v. State of NCT of Delhi
[Inputs: The Hindu]