An alert resident medical officer and nurse would have recognised deteriorating health signals, the state health regulatory commission said on Friday while hearing a complaint against CMRI where a woman died in February hours after her delivery.
The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission has asked the hospital to deposit Rs 1 lakh in a fixed deposit account in the child’s name, retired judge Ashim Banerjee, the commission chairperson, said.
The matter came to the fore when TV news channels showed her husband slapping her gynaecologist when he told him of his wife’s death.
“The woman gave birth to the child at 10am. The family left the hospital after checking on the woman at 6.30pm. The gynaecologist examined her around the same time and said she was doing fine,” Banerjee said.
“At 3am the next day, the hospital called the family to say the woman’s condition had deteriorated rapidly. She passed away at 5.30am. Doctor members of the commission said this couldn’t have happened suddenly. The woman died from shock, the onset of which would have given signals.
“The doctors felt either the nurse or the resident medical officer (RMO) did not notice the signals of her deteriorating health or they did not take the signals seriously.”
Banerjee said the hospital’s response was “superficial and cryptic”. “We have asked the hospital to file an affidavit and give their version. We have asked the woman’s husband to file an affidavit, too,” he said.
“Prima facie we felt there was some negligence and asked the hospital to deposit Rs 1 lakh in a fixed deposit account in the child’s name. The money will remain deposited till the final decision is taken.”
The commission will go through the woman’s post-mortem report for further investigation into the matter, he said.
On Friday, the woman’s husband apologised to the gynaecologist, Banerjee said. “He regretted his action and said he was not in the right frame of mind after his wife’s death. He will give in writing his apology. The gynaecologist, too, did not want to pursue the police complaint against the man.”
The commission asked BM Birla Heart Research Centre to compensate a person with Rs 50,000.
Aditya Apurba, the complainant, had alleged that the hospital gave him two estimates, a higher one the second time, when his father needed an angioplasty.
“The first estimate for angioplasty was Rs 1,35,000 and the second Rs 1,75,000,” Banerjee said.
The estimates were only for the angioplasty and the total cost was more.
The hospital said the first estimate was an error. “The total bill came to Rs 3,65,000. The insurance company gave Rs 3,15,00. The patient had to pay Rs 50,000,” Banerjee said. “We have asked the hospital to return Rs 50,000 to the patient.”
The commission asked Belle Vue Clinic to return Rs 23,142 to a patient as it found some irregularities in the bill.
IQ City hospital Durgapur has been asked to offer a patient a discount of Rs 25,000. “The hospital kept the woman in a bed that costs Rs 6,000. Even after her Covid negative test, the hospital did not shift her to a general bed that would have cost her Rs 1,800 a day,” Banerjee said.