Mumbai Hospital tries to palm off comatose patient after rat bites his eye

Parvinder has developed an ulcer in his eye after it was nibbled on by a rat in the hospital

A week after a rat gnawed on the eye of comatose patient Parvinder Gupta, 27, the Bal Thackeray Trauma Care Hospital is allegedly mounting pressure on his family to shift him to Cooper hospital. When the family refused to do so, the management asked them to sign an undertaking absolving the hospital of any blame if the patient's health worsens.

On Monday, the hospital authorities held a meeting with the family members, along with local political bodies. But later, in the afternoon, the hospital staffers asked the family to shift the patient to Cooper hospital for further treatment. Gupta had already been under treatment at the Thackeray trauma centre in Jogeshwari for 20 days. When his family refused to move him, they were made to sign a letter absolving the hospital of blame.

A family member told mid-day, "He has been in this hospital for over 20 days, so why are they asking to shift him now? He was being treated in the general ward, but after the rat bite, they shifted him to the ICU. Now they want to move him to Cooper, just to wash their hands off the matter. We didn't have any option but to sign the letter. We have left everything to god now."

A senior doctor from Thackeray hospital agreed: "After the rat bite came to light, the hospital is forcing the family to shift him to Cooper hospital. Now that he has developed an ulcer in his eye, and since his condition has shown no sign of improvement, they are putting pressure on the family to shift him."

The other side
The hospital argued that this was a routine formality, as the condition of the patient is critical and Cooper hospital is a tertiary-level hospital capable of providing better care.

"The patient is still in the ICU, and hasn't shown any sign of improvement, so we wanted to shift him to Cooper hospital, as it would be able to provide better healthcare," said Dr H Bhava, medical superintendent of the hospital.

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