KOLKATA: A 14-year-old girl died of infection after an alleged botched-up gall bladder surgery at a
private hospital on Friday evening, leading her family to file a complaint of
medical negligence against the surgeon.
Anindita Mondol – a class IX student from Sonarpur – had been under treatment at the hospital for two months during which she underwent three surgeries - the first one had left her bile duct perforated. According to the hospital, the subsequent surgeries failed to check biliary leakage which led to a fatal infection. Anindita had been on ventilation for nearly a month. A complaint was filed against Suvayu Banerjee - who conducted the surgeries – at the Purba Jadavpur police station. But no post-mortem has been done.
The teenager – a resident of
Bhowmik Park in Sonaprur - had been admitted to a private hospital off EM Bypass on March 18 with gall bladder stones. She was operated upon the next day and eight gall stones were extracted. According to the girl’s father Rajesh Mondol, doctors told him that Anindita’s bile duct had been perforated leading to a biliary leakage that has led to an infection. She needed two more corrective surgeries to control the damage, he was told. The surgeries, though, failed to revive the girl. “After the third operation, we were told that Anindita’s condition was serious. The infection has spread to other parts of her body and she needs ventilation support,” he said.
A statement issued by the hospital claimed that Anindita developed a series of complications, including a severe respiratory distress which led to her death. It also said that her gall stones cud not be removed. “The patient had presented with stones in the gall bladder and bile duct, for which ERCP was attempted. The bile duct could not be cannulated, so the stent could not be placed and the stones could not be removed. The patient then developed bile leak inside the abdomen, for which she underwent open surgery to remove the gall bladder and control the leak. She was stable after surgery, but after a few days, developed acute respiratory distress, and had to be put on ECMO which is an advanced life support system. She was successfully weaned off the ECMO when her lungs recovered. However, she developed an abscess inside her abdomen for which she underwent another surgery. She was kept under intensive care for several weeks as she was showing recurrent and persistent signs of sepsis. All necessary measures were taken to control the intra-abdominal infection caused by the bile. Despite the highest levels of care, she did not recover from the infection and developed multi-organ failure as a result of the persistent infection and unfortunately succumbed to it,” said the statement.
Anindita’s family, however, held the surgeon responsible for her death.
