No negligence at hospital

The Jehangir Hospital in Poona where the swine flu (H1N1) epidemic claimed its first victim, 14-year-old schoolgirl Rida Shaikh (see "Testing times,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, September 7, 2009), has been cleared of charges of medical negligence by a panel of doctors probing the incident, as per a report in Mumbai Mirror (MM) dated December 2, 2009. The victim’s family had filed a case of criminal negligence against the hospital, but the latter’s vehement stand that there had been no medical negligence and that everything within its power had been done to treat the patient has now been vindicated.