Hospital plays God, pulls plug on brain-dead boy in Ahmedabad

The authorities of VS hospital on Monday did something that has not been legalised in the country. They removed the ventilator from a brain-dead young boy, an act that the law of the land does not allow. Divyesh Kachadia, a 20-year-old bright engineering student, breathed his last on Monday after the life-support system was removed from him.

The removal of the life-support system was done even without the consent of his family members. The family members had, however, paid the ventilator fee of Rs1,000 for Monday. Worse, the authorities had allegedly kept the family in dark about Divyesh’s condition that he was brain-dead.

On June 2, Divyesh, a student of LD Engineering College, had been admitted to VS hospital after he suffered a brain stroke while appearing for his 4th semester exam. He was immediately put on a ventilator.

Though the hospital charges Rs1,500 a day as ventilator fee, it had reduced the fee to Rs1,000 for Divyesh as the family was poor. Divyesh’s father Vitthal Kachadia is a carpenter.

According to family members, the ordeal started after the boy was put on ventilator.  “For close to eight days, no neurosurgeon visited the patient. Our pleas to get in touch with the neurosurgeon fell on deaf ears,” alleged a close relative of the boy.

Later, the family managed to meet Tushar Soni, hospital’s own neurosurgeon, at a private hospital but that did not help.  “We met him during his routine private visits at Laxmi hospital in Vadaj. I even questioned him about the continued negligence but was only greeted with silence,” he alleged.

With no respite in Divyesh’s condition, the family decided to contact local doctors and even send reports to renowned neurologist Dr BK Mishra of PD Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai. “We only came to know that Divyesh was brain-dead after a report from Dr Mishra came in. The hospital authorities did not bother to inform us about this,” fumed family members.

Coping up with the harsh reality, the family, however, decided to donate Divyesh’s kidneys. But as the ventilator was removed, which took away the boy’s life, they were denied the right for the noble cause.

“We were stunned when Divyesh’s uncle Babu Patel called us to inform that the ventilator was taken off. The ventilator was removed and his heart had stopped beating and thus we could not donate his kidneys to Dr. H L Trivedi Institute of Transplantation Sciences as planned,” said his family member. He alleged that the family was forced to sign papers, saying that the ventilator had been removed.

When contacted, VS hospital’s deputy superintendent ST Malhar came up with a vague excuse. “The patient was already brain-dead and there was no point in keeping him on ventilator for a longer period,” he said. Malhar also added that Divyesh was a cardiac patient, but the family members denied this. Despite repeated attempts, hospital superintendent Dr MH Makwana did not respond.

City mayor Asit Vora and deputy municipal commissioner Captain Dilip Mahajan showed ignorance about any such incident. Later, however, Vora said that the patient was already brain-dead and “no one is foolish enough to remove the ventilator if the person was alive”. On the other hand, Mahajan said, “We will investigate the case and find out the real cause.” Senior criminal lawyer

Nigam Shukla said it is a case of medical negligence. “Even if the person is declared brain-dead, he cannot be denied life-support system. He should continue to live. The prior consent of the relatives and that too in writing is must for removing the support system as oral consent is not enough. If the hospital authorities have removed the ventilator, it amounts to a case of medical negligence and attracts section 304-A of Indian Penal Code (IPC).”