Two doctors booked for minor girl's death, charged with culpable homicide

Two doctors of a prominent hospital here were booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder following court directions in case of a minor girl's death due to alleged wrong treatment, a culmination of a legal battle fought by his father for six long years. Pramod Kumar Choudhary, an employee of New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), finally inched towards justice for his 10-year-old daughter who died due to alleged wrong treatment at the hands of Dr Sunil Sarin and Dr Vivek Kumar of RLKC Hospital and Metro Heart Institute. "After directions from a Tis Hazari court to book Dr Sarin and Dr Kumar, police registered a First Information Report (FIR) on November 17 against them. The court directed police to book the hospital authorities, who charged a hefty sum for treatment, for a culpable act done by several persons in furtherance of common intent, cheating, forgery for purpose of cheating, and using as genuine a forged document," a police officer said.

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"We are waiting for documents and reports from the Delhi Medical Council and will take action against both the doctors accordingly," the officer added. The case was registered under the Indian Penal Code provisions in Ranjit Nagar police station. On October 21, 2011, the minor, Ritu, was admitted in the hospital for treatment of viral fever. "Dr Sarin told me she was suffering from dengue despite the fact that her platelet count was 2.1 lakh. They did not even diagnose her disease and gave some medicines that led to multiple organ failure," the distruaght father said. "Five days later, when her condition deteriorated, she was referred to the Ram Manohar Lohiya Hospital on October 26, 2011, where she succumbed to multiple organ failure. Since the RLKC Hospital and Metro Heart Institute was on the NDMC panel list, it issues a bill of huge amount knowing well that the bill would be cleared by the civic agency," Pramod Kumar said.

"The wrong treatment was first pointed out by senior RML Hospital doctors. On that basis, we complained to hospital management against two doctors but it did not take action and instead gave them a clean chit after so-called internal inquiry," he added. The NDMC stopped bill payment citing wrong treatment and removed RLKC Hospital and Metro Heart Institute from its panel. "I filed over 100 Right to Information applications at top hospitals, including Safdarjung Hospital and All India Institutes of Medical Sciences to know about the medicines given to dengue or viral fever patients. I found that medicines given to my daughter by these two doctors were entirely different," Pramod Kumar said. "We produced RTI replies and diagnosis/treatment done by the RLKC Hospital doctors in court. The medicines given to Ritu were banned worldwide by the World Health Organisation. Such medicines badly affected her kidneys and other vital organs, leading to her death," he said.

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