J Jayalalithaa died of ARDS which led to cardiac arrest, doctor tells probe panel

CHENNAI: The director of Critical Care Units (CCU) at Apollo hospitals in Chennai, Dr Ramakrishnan, on Monday told the Justice (retd) A Arumughaswamy commission that late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa died of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) which led to a cardiac arrest, sources said.
The commission is probing the circumstances surrounding Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation and eventual death in December 2016.

Ramakrishnan appeared before the commission on Monday afternoon for a deposition which lasted for around two hours. He is not directly involved in the treatment given to patients but oversees the CCUs at Apollo's various hospitals in the city. He has interacted with Jayalalithaa once during her stay, sources said.

Sources said Ramakrishnan was shown Jayalalithaa's death certificate and quizzed about the cause of the death, as the commission wanted to clarify on the issue of cardiac arrest.

During the deposition, Ramakrishnan also spoke about how an angiogram was not preferred for Jayalalithaa for various reasons, sources said. On October 12, 2016, the hospital took the opinion of Dr Stuart Russell from USA via video conferencing, who said an angiogram was not needed.

On November 25, 2016, Jayalalithaa's family brought in Dr Sharma, who discussed with Dr Richard Beale, the London specialist doctor involved in Jayalalithaa's treatment. Ramakrishnan told the commission that during the discussion, it was suggested that since Jayalalithaa's condition then was not an emergency, angiogram was not needed. This was based on a risk benefit analysis, sources quoted Ramakrishnan as saying.