Dengue fever death - medical negligence suspected

Dengue fever death - medical negligence suspected

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, July 15, 2011: Sapna (20), a final year BCom student at Besant College, died in a private hospital in Mangalore. The cause of death is believed to be dengue fever.

The deceased is from Sasihithlu and she was admitted to KMC Hospital near Jyothi Circle on Monday. She died on July 14 Thursday at 6:30 p.m., according to the authorities of KMC Hospital.

 

 

 

 

Sapna’s friends told Mangalore Today that till Wednesday, the bill for Sapna’s treatment was Rs. 45,000, but the very next day, the day on which she died, the bill was increased to Rs. 1 lakh. When her parents went to the hospital to get her body for the final rites, they were billed Rs. 1.5 lakh.

The students and the management of Besant Women’s College raised Rs. 70,000 to help her parents. Sapna’s body was released at 1:30 p.m. today.

They also said that, when they had visited the hospital on Wednesday, they saw a list of patients’ names with the watchman, but only Sapna’s name had a tick mark against it. When inquired about it, the watchman did not respond.

On Wednesday, the hospital staff hadn’t given any food to Sapna and had prevented her parents and friends from seeing her in the ICU ward. The doctors informed Sapna’s friends and family members at 6:20 p.m. that Sapna was recovering, but when they asked to see her at 6:30 p.m., they said that she had died.

The doctors had diagnosed the case differently throughout the course of the treatment. They began by treating her for kidney disease, but later said that she was suffering from rat fever before finally saying that she died of dengue fever.