Max-i-mum Negligence

A young mother dies after childbirth at a premier city hospital. Her family alleges medical negligence. And the daily assessment report prepared by the nurse on duty shows the allegations are not baseless. Amit Singh reports

May 3, 5.45 am: Nikita Manchanda, 30, gives birth to a baby boy after a Caesarean Section. Both mother and child are healthy

May 4, 10 pm: Nikita complains of abdominal and back pain. Nurse on duty rings up the doctor, who prescribes a pain-killer. The medicine is administered.

The victim, Nikita Manchanda

May 4, 11 pm: No improvement in Nikita's condition. Nurse calls up the doctor again, who prescribes more pain-killers.u00a0u00a0

May 5, 2 am: Nikita's condition deteriorates and nurse informs Dr Pooja, who is on night duty. Dr Pooja arrives butu00a0 leaves after a cursory check-up.

May 5, 6 am: After wreathing in pain throughout the night, Nikita starts vomiting. Dr Pooja arrives but isn't able to diagnose the problem. Nikita's condition worsens. Her blood pressure dips.

May 5, 7.45 am: Senior doctor arrives and advises Nikita be shifted to ICU.

May 5, 8.30 am: Nikita is finally shifted to the ICU. But she sinks, starts gasping, her pupils dilate, she stops responding, skin goes cold and she collapses.

May 5, 9.30 am: Nikita is put on ventilator

May 5, 10 am: Cardiac massage is started

May 5, 12.30 pm: Nikita is declared dead

It couldn't get any worse than this.

Thirty-year-old Nikita Manchanda had been admitted to Max Healthcare, Pitampura, one of the city's premier medical institutes, hoping for the best care during her delivery.

But on May 5, within two days of giving birth to a son and running up a bill of almost Rs 90,000, the assistant manager with Genpact, died in the ICU.

Her family alleged medical negligence and the daily assessment report prepared by the nurse on duty (a copy of which is with MiD DAY) shows they might be right.

The assessment report said that though Nikita complained of severe pain in her abdomen and back, she was administered pain-killers by a doctor on the telephone.
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When her condition didn't improve, the doctor on night duty, Dr Pooja, superficially examined her and failed to diagnose her case.

Nikita was declared dead at 12. 30 pm on May 5.

Shock and anger

"The doctor assumed Nikita was suffering from muscular pain common after Caesarean Section operations. Even though her condition deteriorated, no doctor arrived.
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The doctor on night duty only conducted an external check-up," said Deepika Manchanda, the victim's sister.

The aggrieved family alleged that no medical investigations were conducted on Nikita, even though her blood pressure dipped and she kept suffering.

"From 10 pm to 6 am Nikita wreathed in pain yet no medical investigation was conducted to diagnose her problem. She was only administered pain-killers and sedatives.

At 7 am, when her condition turned critical, a doctor was summoned but the confusion persisted. The doctor suggested Nikita be shifted to the ICU at 7.45 am but the hospital wasted about 45 minutes to do so.
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Even after that we were harassed and were asked to run to blood banks. We were kept in the dark about her situation," added Deepika.

'Abnormal death'

Though the hospital rushed in to justify its action, the family pointed out that Nikita didn't have any history of medical complication and her death didn't happen under normal circumstances.
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"She didn't have any medical history and was absolutely healthy after the delivery. A patient can't die like that.
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Nikita died because of the negligence of the hospital and the deficiency of the services of its doctors and nurses.

We are very upset that such a reputed hospital couldn't handle a simple case of delivery. And we are going to fight for justice," Deepika said.

Nikita's family filed a complaint of medical negligence against Max Healthcare, Pitampura, at Saraswati Vihar police station on May 5.

The family members also alleged that the hospital didn't have a blood bank. And when Nikita's condition turned critical, the family was asked to go to Shalimar Bagh, about 10 km away, to get blood for the patient.

They said the nine-floor building only has two lifts, of which one stops at selected floors.

"The average waiting time for the lift is 10 to 15 minutes, which can prove critical for a patient. While Nikita was on the fourth floor, her new-born son was on the eighth floor.

Whenever she had to feed him, she had to be transported four floors up, which added to her pain," said S P Manchanda, the victim's father.

Hospital's take

Meanwhile, the hospital administration insists the doctors had prescribed the right medication. "We too are perplexed at Nikita's death.
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She delivered a baby boy and was completely fine after the operation. Suddenly, she complained of abdominal and back pain.
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Though she was given proper medication, she collapsed," said Dr DP Sarswat, regional director, Max Healthcare.
"On May 5, we even called some senior doctors from other hospitals to look into Nikita's case. But they too were not able to diagnose the problem.

We believe she went into shock, which can happen under various medical conditions. The final assessment can only be done once her postmortem report arrives," said Sarswat.

Dr Alka Gupta, the gynecologist who had operated upon Nikita, was contacted for comments.

She handed the phone to her husband, who refused to say anything substantial. "This has become a medico-legal case and it would not be suitable for us to comment on it," he said.

The death summary of the victim issued by Max said the cause of death was to be ascertained after postmortem.

However, the report of the first postmortem, which was conducted at Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital, at Jahangir Puri in northwest Delhi, didn't point to any concrete reason for death.

It stated the patient had suffered haemorrhage in various organs and had rashes all over her body.

The report also stated that the final opinion regarding the cause of death would be given after the receipt of the chemical analysis report of the victim's blood, which has been sent to Hyderabad.

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