Pal’s family is fighting a case against the Nanavati hospital at the Bombay High Court but they have little hope for justice.
She might not be as famous as Aruna Shanbaug but Gama Devi Pal’s story is no less tragic. In coma since the past 26-years-ago due to childbirth related complications, life ebbed out of Pal on Friday, June 5. The Jogeshwari resident had been comatose at the general ward of Dr. Balabhai Nanavati Hospital in Vile Parle.
Comatose for 26 years
In February 1989, 21-year-old Pal was wheeled into the hospital for her delivery. She never woke up after that. Doctors blame it on the complications that arose during her delivery. Pal lived with her husband Ramaashray Pal and his two brothers at Ram Nagar in Jogeshwari. She was taken to the Nanavati hospital by her husband and mother-in-law. They now call it a mistake and claim that she was given wrong medicines during delivery which led to her being in coma, a charge the hospital has denied.
For 26 years Pal had been bedridden. Her husband who works with the MTNL first exhausted all his leaves to stay by her bedside. He then settled into a routine where he visited her twice a day. Her son Vipul, 26 now, too kept up his weekly meetings with his mother.
Refused food the day her young son was not brought to her
Despite being in coma, Pal was aware of what was happening around her. When her son was younger, she liked to have him around her the whole day. On the days that her family members did not bring her son to visit her, she refused to have food.
Speaking with iamin, Pal's son Vipul who has a degree in hotel management and is employed says, “It was very difficult growing up without a mother at home and seeing her in such a state. I used to visit her every week and spend time with her. Father has been regularly visiting her at the hospital for 26 years now.”
The family remains bitter about Pal’s coma. Shiroman, Pal’s brother-in-law says, “Nanavati Hospital forged her death certificate, claiming that she died in 2014. This is a blatant lie. She was in coma for 26 years. We have asked the hospital to issue a new certificate.”
Pal’s family is fighting a case against the Nanavati hospital at the Bombay High Court but they have little hope for justice.
Hospital denies charge of negligence
Officials at the Nanavati hospital continue to deny allegations of negligence and forged paperwork. Rejendra Patankar, chief operating officer of Nanavati Hospital says, “There was a problem with the entry which is why there was an error in her death certificate. We have shown her to every doctor who visited Nanavati but at times even the doctors cannot help a patient who is in coma. We understand that her family suffered but the hospital continued to look after her on humanitarian grounds.”
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