Health
A life cut short
The culture of corporate hospitals is not always in favor of the patients
The life of Jehangir Cama, respected hotelier and business leader who was the former president of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India, the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and the Consumer Education and Research Centre, was allegedly cut short due to misdiagnosis and lack of trained medical staff who were unable to cure his small patch of pneumonia. His wife Mehroo cautions the community:
Nothing can bring Jehangir back and our family and the city will be the poorer without him. We write this to bring about an awareness of the prevailing conditions at many corporate hospitals which are mushrooming in all cities and have become a multi crore business with little regard to the sanctity of lives.
To save others the immense pain which we have just undergone we advise family and friends to choose a hospital where your own family doctor or the specialist of your choice is attached to monitor and advise you correctly. He/she should be able to monitor the treatment and check negligence if any. Get a second opinion on the hospital before admitting a patient. Be cautious before resorting to a ventilator as maximum infections take place in Intensive Cardiac Care Units (ICCU). Keep all medical records in case you have to fight against the hospital for medical negligence or wrong billing or simply overcharging under strange heads. If you are forewarned then you are forearmed.
When medical officers and nursing staff for a hospital are hired by an employment agency there may be no professional team to assess their medical knowledge or expertise or to ascertain whether a doctor has an MBBS, ayurvedic or homeopathic degree, or whether the nurses can administer injections or even monitor blood pressure (BP) or pulse rates. We have seen a nurse hold the glucometer (blood sugar reading machine) upside down, and reading the count as 66 instead of 99 while preparing to give insulin to the patient!
Since affiliated doctors are required to complete their assigned quotas, frequently unnecessary procedures and tests are recommended, ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds are filled up, and maximum use of ventilators made without ensuring that these life saving equipments are sterilized. From the start all the attending specialists admitted that Jehangir’s lung infection which would not respond to any treatment was due to the ventilator in the ICU and not the original pneumonia patch. Various experiments with antibiotics and steroids were carried out, sensitivity tests done, and outside experts called in only after everything failed and it was too late.
A patient suffered four heart attacks within 26 hours while in the hospital suite and the resident doctor and even the senior physician failed to recognize this and treated him for hyperacidity administering antacids, ice cream and a nebulizer with asthalin! He was even told to walk about which worsened his condition! Even during the fourth attack when he was sweating profusely, the resident doctor failed to realize the seriousness and attributed it to his sitting on a leather chair! Had he been treated in time, this tragedy could have been averted. A simple blood test after the first attack and immediate treatment would have minimized the damage. Even after admission to the ICU, instead of calling a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist was summoned and the cardiologist came in only after five precious hours were wasted.
When the patient was moved to the ICU the family wanted to shift him to the best hospital under the best cardiologist but were told this was not possible due to the limitations of their lift which was too small to take a patient on a ventilator! There were only two lifts, one of which was often out of order. Critically ill patients and equipment for the ICCU have to wait upwards of 30 minutes and the chaotic conditions have to be seen to be believed. If one does not already have an infection on arrival he/she is almost sure to get one in the lift when herded like cattle.
When lifts and stairwell foyers lead directly into the ICU and ICCU, relatives and staff walk in without masks or sterilization of their hands (bottles of sterilium are invariably empty), bringing in all the dust and insects into wards which should be the most sterile in the hospital. We have seen an insect crawl towards the open mouth of a highly sedated patient and a lizard on the window pane behind the bed.
The machines in the ICCU did not function properly. One watched as the machine recorded zero BP and made calls to say the patient was no more when the pressure rose again to 75/45 after a junior doctor unclogged it! During night time, doctors and nurses on duty put up their feet, dimmed the lights and went to sleep. One is told this is okay as the monitors have an alarm but when one observed the BP falling to zero, no alarm went off. There was a red light which flashed but how would one see that with eyes shut? The isolation ward too defeats its purpose of preventing cross infection when the air conditioning system does not function for days on end.
Another resident doctor at the same hospital prescribed wrong medicines to a patient who was also admitted at the same time despite knowing she was diabetic and had a urinary infection. This stopped her urine, caused vomiting and she had to be rushed to Emergency.
Even in times of grief, hospitals insist on observing bureaucratic procedures with regard to discharge of patients or settling of medical bills. What is most unpardonable is the betrayal of the patient/doctor confidentiality code by the hospital issuing a misleading statement to the largest daily without the consent of the family and abusing their right to privacy by allowing the media on their premises to photograph the family with the body in what is certainly their most private moments of grief.
All associations and health secretaries of the State and Central government should collectively force corporate hospitals to show more accountability and to prevent further deaths due to negligence of basic norms required to be followed. Trained staff and qualified doctors should be employed, equipment kept in working order and proper steps taken to prevent cross infection in ICU and ICCU.
Remember, it is unlikely a doctor will give evidence, or a lawyer will fight your case as medical negligence is difficult to prove in court. Does this mean the medical culprits can get away without punishment? Is medical and health administration in India so helpless? Let one hospital be punished and others will become more vigilant.
Nothing can bring Jehangir back and our family and the city will be the poorer without him. We write this to bring about an awareness of the prevailing conditions at many corporate hospitals which are mushrooming in all cities and have become a multi crore business with little regard to the sanctity of lives.
To save others the immense pain which we have just undergone we advise family and friends to choose a hospital where your own family doctor or the specialist of your choice is attached to monitor and advise you correctly. He/she should be able to monitor the treatment and check negligence if any. Get a second opinion on the hospital before admitting a patient. Be cautious before resorting to a ventilator as maximum infections take place in Intensive Cardiac Care Units (ICCU). Keep all medical records in case you have to fight against the hospital for medical negligence or wrong billing or simply overcharging under strange heads. If you are forewarned then you are forearmed.When medical officers and nursing staff for a hospital are hired by an employment agency there may be no professional team to assess their medical knowledge or expertise or to ascertain whether a doctor has an MBBS, ayurvedic or homeopathic degree, or whether the nurses can administer injections or even monitor blood pressure (BP) or pulse rates. We have seen a nurse hold the glucometer (blood sugar reading machine) upside down, and reading the count as 66 instead of 99 while preparing to give insulin to the patient!
Since affiliated doctors are required to complete their assigned quotas, frequently unnecessary procedures and tests are recommended, ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds are filled up, and maximum use of ventilators made without ensuring that these life saving equipments are sterilized. From the start all the attending specialists admitted that Jehangir’s lung infection which would not respond to any treatment was due to the ventilator in the ICU and not the original pneumonia patch. Various experiments with antibiotics and steroids were carried out, sensitivity tests done, and outside experts called in only after everything failed and it was too late.
A patient suffered four heart attacks within 26 hours while in the hospital suite and the resident doctor and even the senior physician failed to recognize this and treated him for hyperacidity administering antacids, ice cream and a nebulizer with asthalin! He was even told to walk about which worsened his condition! Even during the fourth attack when he was sweating profusely, the resident doctor failed to realize the seriousness and attributed it to his sitting on a leather chair! Had he been treated in time, this tragedy could have been averted. A simple blood test after the first attack and immediate treatment would have minimized the damage. Even after admission to the ICU, instead of calling a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist was summoned and the cardiologist came in only after five precious hours were wasted.
When the patient was moved to the ICU the family wanted to shift him to the best hospital under the best cardiologist but were told this was not possible due to the limitations of their lift which was too small to take a patient on a ventilator! There were only two lifts, one of which was often out of order. Critically ill patients and equipment for the ICCU have to wait upwards of 30 minutes and the chaotic conditions have to be seen to be believed. If one does not already have an infection on arrival he/she is almost sure to get one in the lift when herded like cattle.
When lifts and stairwell foyers lead directly into the ICU and ICCU, relatives and staff walk in without masks or sterilization of their hands (bottles of sterilium are invariably empty), bringing in all the dust and insects into wards which should be the most sterile in the hospital. We have seen an insect crawl towards the open mouth of a highly sedated patient and a lizard on the window pane behind the bed.
The machines in the ICCU did not function properly. One watched as the machine recorded zero BP and made calls to say the patient was no more when the pressure rose again to 75/45 after a junior doctor unclogged it! During night time, doctors and nurses on duty put up their feet, dimmed the lights and went to sleep. One is told this is okay as the monitors have an alarm but when one observed the BP falling to zero, no alarm went off. There was a red light which flashed but how would one see that with eyes shut? The isolation ward too defeats its purpose of preventing cross infection when the air conditioning system does not function for days on end.
Another resident doctor at the same hospital prescribed wrong medicines to a patient who was also admitted at the same time despite knowing she was diabetic and had a urinary infection. This stopped her urine, caused vomiting and she had to be rushed to Emergency.
Even in times of grief, hospitals insist on observing bureaucratic procedures with regard to discharge of patients or settling of medical bills. What is most unpardonable is the betrayal of the patient/doctor confidentiality code by the hospital issuing a misleading statement to the largest daily without the consent of the family and abusing their right to privacy by allowing the media on their premises to photograph the family with the body in what is certainly their most private moments of grief.
All associations and health secretaries of the State and Central government should collectively force corporate hospitals to show more accountability and to prevent further deaths due to negligence of basic norms required to be followed. Trained staff and qualified doctors should be employed, equipment kept in working order and proper steps taken to prevent cross infection in ICU and ICCU.
Remember, it is unlikely a doctor will give evidence, or a lawyer will fight your case as medical negligence is difficult to prove in court. Does this mean the medical culprits can get away without punishment? Is medical and health administration in India so helpless? Let one hospital be punished and others will become more vigilant.
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