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Mumbai doctor booked for breaking infant’s bones

Police apply section 388, which is usually used against rash drivers who injure pedestrians.

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In the first case of its kind, Dahisar police have registered an FIR against a physician for breaking the bones of a six-day-old infant who was admitted at his clinic for treatment of jaundice.

Interestingly, the cops have registered the case before sending the facts to a team of medical experts from JJ hospital, which first investigates the matter, as is the norm.

“The fracture did not happen at our clinic. We have given our statement to the police,” said a staffer at Mahambare hospital, where the incident took place. According to Mumnna Pathan, the father of the baby, soon after the delivery, the baby boy was diagnosed with jaundice and was therefore referred to a child specialist. Pathan admitted the baby at Mahambare child specialist hospital located in Dahisar on Wednesday.

Pathan said that the baby was kept in a glass box for photo therapy and had to be fed his wife’s milk from time to time. “The baby was doing fine until Thursday night,” Pathan added. To Pathan’s wife’s shock, when she returned to the hospital next day, she found the baby crying relentlessly in the arms of a nurse.

Even when his wife, Taslim, took the baby to feed him, he did not stop crying. “My wife then removed the cloth wrapped around the baby to make him comfortable. She was shocked to see the right hand and leg swollen,” Pathan said.

According to the police, when the baby’s parents complained about the swollen limbs to the authorities at the hospital, they were asked to conduct an X-ray, which was later done at Bhagvati civic hospital. The X-ray reports revealed fractures on the hand, leg and shoulder. When the parents brought the matter to the notice of Mhambare clinic, the authorities refused to take the blame for it, alleging that the fracture could have happened while pulling the baby during the delivery. However, Rashid Pathan, the baby’s grandfather countered this and said, “If the baby sustained fracture during the delivery, why was there no swelling during the initial days?”

The parents then approached the police, who registered an FIR for the case under section 338 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), which translates to causing grievous hurt by act of endangering life or personal safety of others.

The police officials said that they registered the case before going through the opinion of medical experts, as the alleged negligence by the doctor did not happen during the surgery, or because of giving any wrong medicine; but due to the bone fracture, and therefore it is a fit for registering as a case at the earliest. The medical investigation by the team of experts from JJ hospital may follow the filing of the FIR.

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