2 Maternal Deaths . . . The first one . . .

We had 2 maternal deaths on Saturday (17th Dec), the day I left NJH for my vacation.

One of them was quite expected and the other was quite unbelievably shocking. One happened in NJH and the other occured at Medical College, Ranchi.

I had written about ND in my previous post. Clinically, ND was improving. However, I was not confident of continuing to treat her at NJH as Nandamani was going to be alone from 18th December. We had been talking to her relatives about having her treated at a higher centre from the very beginning.

The plan was ultimately to do an Ultrasound of the fetus on the early morning of 17th December and then to refer her to Ranchi. I was on call on the 16th and sometime during midnight, her relatives requested that they be allowed to take her early morning of the 17th without waiting till daybreak for the ultrasound.

The next thing we know is that her dead body was brought sometime in the evening to NJH emergency. It was unbelievable. The story was that she reached Medical College, Ranchi at around 8:00 am. Ultrasound revealed that her 28 week fetus was dead. The doctors started treatment. She was feeling fine. She had her lunch at around 12:30 pm. But, she was found dead on her bed at around 1:30 pm. There was no explanation given.

But the reason for which the dead body was brought to NJH emergency was different. After the relatives reached back to her home at Satbarwa, one of the local quacks gave an opinion that she does not seem to be fully dead and that her heart is still going on. So, they rushed with the body to NJH.

The story is quite a sad one. But, that is how life goes on this region of our country.