63-year-old Panduram Rane was undergoing a leg surgery when he fell on the rod; hospital denies this was the cause of death and tries to hush up the matter
The family of a 63-year-old man, who died on Sunday, has filed a police case against the doctors of KEM Hospital, blaming them for causing his death. According to the family, while being operated upon in May following a road accident, Panduram Rane fell off the operating table twice. The rod that was to be inserted into his leg, pierced his genitals instead. While the operation to his leg was done, the doctors allegedly ignored the wound to his scrotum. This turned septic and the infection spread throughout his body, the family said. Rane passed away on July 24 from organ failure caused by the infection.
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Panduram Rane, seen here with his wife, had been admitted to the hospital in May after a car hit him and injured his leg. He passed away on July 24 from organ failure
KEM’s version
While the hospital has not denied that Rane fell off the operating table, they refute allegations that it had caused the injury to Rane’s genitals. KEM Hospital Dean, Dr Avinash Supe, in response to a letter from Rane’s son on May 30, had said, “The orthopaedic operation table is different from a regular table. During the operation, the table got displaced, but the patient didn’t fall completely. Also, during evaluation, we found that the cut to his scrotum was from the accident and had nothing to do with the fall.” Hospital records, however, clearly state that the ‘patient fell from the table during positioning at 3 am’. Another document (in-house officer’s notes), stated that on May 16, there was a traction rod mishap during orthopaedic surgery.
Panduram Rane with wife and daughter
The documents are in mid-day’s possession.
When mid-day tried to speak to police sub-inspector Sambhaj Raje of Bhoiwada police station, the investigating officer in the case, he refused to say anything more than, “I am aware of the case.”
The victim’s son Pratik holds up the documents, which mention, “Patient fell down from table at OME of giving positioning at 3 am.”
The road accident
On May 9, Rane, a retired mill worker, was returning to his workplace after having lunch at home in Kalachowkie. Around 1.30 pm, as he was crossing the road, a car hit him from behind and his left leg was injured. He was immediately taken to KEM hospital. There the doctors suggested surgery to insert a rod in his leg. On May 15, around 9.30 pm, Rane was taken into the operation theatre for the surgery.
Pratik (26), Rane’s son, who is an engineer, said, “My father was inside the operation theatre when, around 3.15 am on May 16, a doctor came out and started scolding a junior doctor. He was asking him how the patient fell from the table. Scared, I asked the doctor, but he fobbed me off saying it was another patient.”
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When Rane came out, Pratik discovered that his father also had an injury to his scrotum and asked the doctors about it. “The orthopaedic doctor said the surgery doctor would attend to it. After a lot of nagging, finally on May 21, a senior surgeon examined my father and suggested immediate surgery, but it was too late. Pus was already oozing out of his scrotum,” Pratik said.
Shifted to pvt hospital
Considering Rane’s deteriorating condition, the family shifted him to a private hospital in Dadar. There the doctors immediately conducted a surgery and removed his scrotum, but by that time the infection had spread throughout the body. “Later, the wound in the leg, too, got infected. Doctors collected 500 ml of pus from the area,” Pratik said.
‘In pain for 3 months’
Despite the family spending Rs 12 lakh on his treatment, (Pratik said his mother sold all her jewellery for the treatment) Rane didn’t recover and his condition continued to deteriorate. “My father was a fitness enthusiast and was a kabaddi player, but, he lost 20 kg in just one month. After struggling in pain for so many days, he finally succumbed on Sunday,” Pratik said.
Medico-legal case
Interestingly, the hospital did not register a medico-legal case despite it being mandatory. As per rules, in cases where a patient gets injured at the hands of doctors while taking treatment in a hospital, the hospital is supposed to file a medico-legal case at the nearby police station.
“When we took my father to the private hospital, they enquired with KEM Hospital and Bhoiwada police station about the medico-legal case report. On May 23, I went to Bhoiwada police station and filed the case myself,” Pratik said. The slip from the police station of the case filed is available with mid-day.
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