By Neha Sharma:
After a few tests, the doctor told us that patches of TB were found in the patient, and they needed to start medication for TB immediately. She had walked into the hospital with her family, with us, on her feet. She couldn’t have been this ill. The medicines for TB had an adverse effect on her health and her condition started deteriorating. Her feet were more swollen than before, and she suffered a dramatic loss of appetite, dizziness, hallucinations and breathing difficulty.
For three days since then, we were requesting doctors to inform us about the state of my grandmother’s health clearly, but they didn’t pay any heed and never addressed our concerns. However, someone from the accounts department showed up asking for Rs. 70,000 to be deposited immediately; else they would stop treatment on the patient immediately.
On the fourth day, her health conditions turned for the worse and after much hue and cry, doctors finally shifted her to the ICU. Some tests were conducted again and now they told us, that she wasn’t suffering from TB at all. In fact, she had acquired Pneumonia from the hospital! The TB medicines were stopped. Instead she was now administered medicines to cure Pneumonia. However, the TB medicines had already damaged her kidneys, liver and lungs resulting in a TLC count of 44k (a straight 20 thousand jump from what she was admitted with).
We took her reports to another hospital in Shalimar Bagh. The doctors there told us that they could not shift the patient since they were on the panel of the super speciality hospital and this would have an adverse effect on their jobs (the doctors were more concerned about saving their jobs before saving a patient).
Meanwhile the ICU and hospital staff, the doctors were all rude. Not explaining her clear state of health to us, they left us hoping that things would improve. Her condition was deteriorating with each passing day. Finally on Saturday we were called for a meeting by the doctors where they had admitted that the patient was brought to the hospital with a mild infection but had acquired Pneumonia and Septicemia in the hospital. This, they said, was quite common and happened because the patient’s body had week resistance. Finally on 28th March at round 6:30pm, my grandmother was declared dead by the doctors.
I am surprised by the fact that the patient went to seek treatment on her feet; her conditions deteriorated; was shifted to ICU and then finally declared dead. Generally, in a normal situation, this goes the other way round where the patient is taken to the hospital in a critical state, is admitted to ICU, recovers and responds to the treatment, is shifted to the ward and finally returns home healthy. However what had happened with us was an exact traumatic opposite.
In this case, the doctors were negligent, almost asleep and never communicated anything with us. They were unresponsive, careless and inattentive towards my grandma’s health. Moreover, the doctors at the hospital seemed uncertain as to what plagued the old woman – TB or Pneumonia! They couldn’t make up their mind till the end! Imagine. Negligent attitude, excuse of age, harsh treatment towards patients, usage of hard medicines without keeping in mind sensitive details like urine culture and blood culture were things that contributed to her deteriorating health.
We heard many patients complain that they were not being treated for the ailment for which they had come to the hospital and were instead given medicines for something else. Their merciless attitude towards patients, dishonesty and treating patients for making money, experimenting with their bodies disturbed us thoroughly. We had lost a beloved family member due to their negligence and their merciless attitude, but I would not want any more families to suffer the ordeal that I and my family had to go through.
I wrote to them on social media, telling them what they had done to us. The reply from their end left me infuriated to say the least.
Note: The information mentioned in this letter could not be independently verified by Youth Ki Awaaz