MADURAI: After a four-and-a-half-hour delay, the autopsy of the 19-year-old HIV positive donor who died at Government Rajaji Hospital on Sunday was performed at the Government Rajaji Hospital here on Wednesday. The body was then received by the teenager's parents for cremation at their native village in Ramanathapuram district. 

The donor, a day after the incident of wrongful transfusion of his HIV-infected blood to a 23-year-old pregnant woman in Sattur came into light, attempted suicide on December 26, by consuming rat poison at his native village Thiruchiluvaipuram, near Kamuthi in Ramanathapuram district. 

Following his suicide bid, the teenager was rushed to the government hospital in Kamuthi and then shifted to the Ramanathapuram Government District Headquarters Hospital. In the wee hours on December 27, he was shifted to GRH where he was treated for three days at the ICU of toxicology ward. 

According to the hospital Dean (in-charge) Dr S Shanmugasundaram, the donor's condition continued to be stable and that he showed positive signs of improvement of his mental health too. 

"But, his condition worsened in the wee hours of December 30 when he began to vomit blood. Blood loss is a common complication that arises due to the vigor of rat poison. Despite him being transfused with one unit of blood and three units of fresh frozen plasma, he died at 8.10 am, failing to respond to the treatment," added he. 

However, his family raised suspicion over his 'sudden' death stating that he was talking well and was mobile until few hours before his death. Refusing consent for autopsy, the parents of the deceased donor demanded that postmortem must be performed by a medical team of four forensic experts, two of whom must be from a government hospital other than Madurai Medical College. 

The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court which heard the plea directed that the autopsy should be videographed and that two forensic experts from government medical colleges in Theni, Tirunelveli or Sivaganga should be included in the team that performs the autopsy. 

On Tuesday, the autopsy procedure was scheduled to commence at 10 am with two forensic experts from Theni government medical college and two from Madurai Medical College set to perform the procedure. 

However, there was a four-and-a-half-hour delay in the commencement of the autopsy since the deceased teenager's parents approached the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, expressing dissatisfaction over the panel of forensic experts constituted and demanded the inclusion of a senior forensic professor in the panel. 

After the Court refused to entertain the plea, a team of forensic experts namely the Head of Department of Forensic Medicine Dr T Selvaraj and associate professor Dr K G Juliana Jayanthi (both from Madurai Medical College), Head of Department of Forensic Medicine Dr K Arunkumar and associate professor Dr R Chandrasekar (both from Theni government medical college) commenced the autopsy at 2.30 pm. 

Performed by ensuring that all safety measures to prevent transmission of the infection during the procedure were in place, the autopsy ended at 3.55 pm and was fully videographed. 

The body was then handed over to the parents of the deceased for immediate cremation at their native village.