Newborn girl dies, parents allege medical negligence, backtrack

Doctors at Cheluvamba Hospital suspect septicaemia, aspiration

A newborn baby died of alleged medical negligence at Cheluvamba Children’s Hospital in the city on Wednesday.

However, the baby’s relatives who initially lodged a complaint with the police on Thursday morning, later withdrew the same.

Parveen, wife of Adam, a car driver from Hassan district had delivered a girl on June 22. A native of Hediyala, Nanjangud taluk in Mysore district, Parveen had married Adam of Hassan district, one year back. All was well, till 11 am on June 25 (Wednesday), when the baby was found suffering from fever at the time of discharge, said Medical Superintendent of the hospital Dr Ramamani.

Quoting the baby’s mother, Ramamani said, Parveen took the baby to the paediatrician in the hospital, who later diagnosed the baby to be suffering from septicaemia.  He gave a dose of injection, advising the parents to re-admit the baby. After sometime, Parveen found that the baby had turned bluish.

Difficulty in breathing

She took it to the doctor again, complaining that the baby was finding it difficulty in breathing. The baby was put on ventilator support, till it was officially declared dead at around 11 pm.

Ramamani said, the cause of death is suspected to be septicaemia, coupled by aspiration pneumonia, where there were chances of milk fed to the baby, having entered the lungs.
Parents and relatives who had blamed the doctors of medical negligence, lodged a complaint with the jurisdictional Devaraja police.

Interestingly, they withdrew the same, when the doctors insisted on autopsy, to find out the exact cause of death.