Body of 62-year-old admitted to Covid facility handed over to kin without test
The body of a 62-yearold suspected Covid-19 victim was handed over to her kin by the civic-run Sion hospital without confirming if the woman was infected, putting the family at risk of contracting the novel coronavirus. Medical health experts called it a case of “gross negligence” on part of the hospital, which has 400 beds for Covid-19 patients.
Gyanti Devi was first admitted to the Bandra-kurla Complex’s (BKC) makeshift Covid care facility at 5am on June 2 with breathing issues and lower body pain, after the family was turned away from Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivli and Cooper Hospital in Andheri owing to unavailability of beds.
The same afternoon, as many as 200 patients were moved from the BKC centre to the Covid care facility at NSCI Exhibition Centre in Worli and Sion hospital due to the threat of Cyclone Nisarga. Gyanti Devi was taken to Sion Hospital, where she succumbed on June 3, and her body was handed over to her family the next day.
Her death certificate, a copy of which is with Hindustan Times, states that she died of type-two respiratory failure, lower respiratory tract infection, hypertension and chronic kidney disease.
Respiratory failure coupled with comorbidities is one of the major causes of deaths in Covid-19 patients. However, there was no Covid test conducted on Gyanti Devi.
When asked about Gyanti Devi’s case, Ramesh Bharmal, dean of Sion Hospital, said she was supposed to get tested at the BKC facility. “We thought the patient was already tested. She was admitted in a semi-coma state and had several comorbidities. She was treated as a noncovid patient,” said Bharmal, adding that after her death, “we asked if she was tested, but we didn’t get any information if the swab samples were taken or not”.
On June 8, when Gyanti Devi’s grandson, Sandeep Sharma, received all her medical reports from Sion Hospital, he said the deputy dean told him that a test may not have been conducted. “The doctor told me that looking at the treatment documents, it looks like the patient was not tested for Covid-19,” said Sharma.
However, a Sion hospital staff, on condition of anonymity, said Gyanti Devi’s swab samples could have been misplaced. “The swabs may have gone missing as there is no report about them,” he said.
Health and medico-legal experts, however, said a Covid test should have been conducted on Gyanti Devi.
“If patient is kept at a Covid facility and if she is suspected to have Covid, a test needs to be conducted. If a test is not necessary, why was the patient kept at a Covid facility then?” said Dr Wiqar Shaikh, a senior allergy and asthma specialist. “The death certificate says the patient died of respiratory failure and lower respiratory tract infection. In that case, a Covid test was mandatory.”
Noted criminal lawyer Sudeep Pasbola said the standard operating procedure says that a Covid-19 test needs to be conducted in such cases otherwise “they [hospital] are liable for negligence”. “Even if a person dies of heart attack at home, you cannot cremate the body as it is sent for post-mortem and a Covid-19 test is done. If the test result is positive, the body is wrapped and the relatives are called to directly take it to the crematorium with all precautions in place,” said Pasbola. When HT contacted Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner (health), he said, “I will look into the matter.”
THE 48-HOUR CHAOS
For Gyanti Devi’s family, finding out that she had died and locating her body was also a horrifying experience. Her grandson had to run from pillar to post for 48 hours to locate Gyanti Devi, after she was moved from the BKC facility.
The family claim they did not receive any intimation from the BKC facility about transferring
Gyanti Devi even though they had submitted their contact details. “We were not even informed that my grandmother had been shifted and we waited outside BKC facility for eight hours as no one was allowed us to enter inside,” said Sharma. “After we pressured the security guard, we were let in, but could not find her. The staff at the facility had no clue where she had been sent. I was just told that several patients were shifted to Worli NSCI and Sion Hospital.”
Sharma and his family then did the rounds of Worli NSCI and Sion Hospital for two days, but could not find Gyanti Devi at both places. “We could not even find her name in the list of patients that were moved from BKC,” said Sharma.
Finally, on the evening of June 4, while enquiring with the Sion Hospital staff, the family was told that there was an unclaimed body of a woman who had died on June 3. “We searched in all wards at Sion Hospital and went to the enquiry counter multiple times. The staff then suspected that she could have died and they contacted the Sion crematorium. They then found out that an unclaimed body had been sent to the cremation. It was my grandmother,” said Sharma.
After Sharma reach the crematorium, the body was handed over to him, but the family still does not know if Gyanti Devi was Covid-19. BJP corporator Vinod Mishra called the case “a huge blunder by the health staff at both the facilities”. “The details of the patient were not shared properly because of which it led to so much trouble for the family. We are going to legally challenge this matter in court,” said Mishra.
KIN ALLEGE HOSP NEGLIGENCE