Tamil Nadu man delivers baby with help of YouTube videos, wife dies

In an unfortunate incident, the use of social media turned fatal for a family in Tiruppur of Tamil Nadu when a husband attempted to conduct the delivery of his pregnant wife at home with the help of demo videos onYouTube.

A 28-year-old pregnant woman named Krithiga lost her life as her husband Karthikeyan and his two friends attempted to deliver her baby at home with the aid of YouTube videos in a smartphone in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu.

“Praveen and his wife Lavanya often canvassed to Karthikeyan and Krithiga on the natural and ancient type of medical treatments. Impressed by this, Karthikeyan tried home delivery for his wife,” said a police official with Nallur Police Station in Tiruppur district.

The incident which happened on 22nd, came to limelight only when the corporation health inspector V Bhoopathi lodged a complaint with Tiruppur police station on Tuesday night.

When Krithiga got labour pain on the 22 July, Karthikeyan called his friends to assist with home delivery. Krithiga delivered a healthy baby girl but she collapsed soon after that due to excessive bleeding. Sources say Krithiga was rushed to a government hospital where she was declared brought dead.

“When Krithiga’s kin took her body to the crematory, the workers in crematory had asked for a proper certificate from the hospital. Krithiga’s father Subramanian got the no objection certificate from Nallur police and conducted the autopsy,” Bhoopathi told HT.

He said, “We came to know of the issue through the doctors of GH. Subsequently, We made an enquiry with Krithiga’s father Subramanian. After he revealed the details, we lodged a complaint against Karthikeyan (34), Praveen(35) and his wife Lavanya(30) for attempting a home-delivery to a pregnant woman.”

The Tiruppur police on Thursday have booked the trio for causing death to the pregnant woman by denying her the hospital assistance.

The couple already has a three-year-old child and decided not to visit any doctor when she came to know of her second pregnancy.

Responding to the incident Tamil Nadu health Minister Dr C Vijaya Bhaskar warned people against such moves.

“Government hospitals provide top class treatment in Tamil Nadu when compared to other states. It is unacceptable to try home-deliveries. The government will give severe punishment if anyone is caught committing such offences,” said Vijaya Bhaskar.

As per the statics of the state health and family welfare department of Tamil Nadu, the total Maternity Mortal Rate(MMR) in the state has gradually dropped to 62 now - it was 111 in the 2004-2006 period. Tamil Nadu stands third in lower MMR after Kerala and Maharastra.