Dr ALM’s Medicolegal Series – Part 5 - Deficiency in Infrastructure – Doctors Held Responsible

One patient had sustained injury to his right arm about 6 months before seeing the doctors. The patient initially underwent orthopedic surgery of insertion of plate and screws in his right forearm and was later sent home. The patient met another ortho specialist for the plate removal and the surgeon referred him to a physician–cardiologist for fitness for operation. The physician examined the patient, took an electrocardiogram, and declared him fit for surgery. The patient was scheduled for surgery on March 24, 1990, and within 1 h, he developed cardiorespiratory arrest from which he had not come around and was declared dead around 10.10 AM by the physician who had come to the scene only after cardiorespiratory arrest, and his findings suggested that the patient was practically dead when he saw the patient. Certificate only mentioned the mode of death and not the cause of death. The court held that complications and death of the patient occurred within four walls of the operation theater (OT) where the patient’s relatives had no access whatsoever and onus therefore should lie on doctors in the OT to explain events that happened there. In the said context, the surgeon, anesthetist, and cardiologist had not been able to explain the events and the ultimate outcome, i.e., the death of the patient and hence held guilty of medical negligence.