‘Did my signature cause his death?’ Mother of victim of Kerala illegal organ transplant

For the past week, Omana’s small tailoring shop in Mannurkavala, five km from Muvattupuzha in Kerala’s Ernakulam, has witnessed a queue of media persons waiting to talk to her about Abin, her son who died in November 2009 when he was just 18. Abin’s death was in the news recently after a lower court in Ernakulam summoned eight doctors from Lakeshore Hospital, Kochi and Mar Baselios Hospital, Kothamangalam over allegedly illegally harvesting and transplanting his organs claiming he was brain dead.

Omana is in shock, unable to believe the events that have unravelled in the past week. Bursting into tears frequently, she told everyone who came to meet her that she was in more pain now than when she lost her son 14 years ago. Abin met with a two-wheeler accident on November 29, 2009 and was rushed to Mar Baselios Hospital and to Lakeshore the next day, where the family was told that he would not survive and asked if they wanted to donate his organs.

The court noted, based on a complaint by Dr S Ganapathy from Kollam, that the hospital did not conduct a crucial test on Abin to determine whether he was brain dead. This raised many allegations, which broke her heart, Omana told TNM. “I signed the consent documents for organ donation. I was called alone inside the ICU, I had my 10-year-old younger son with me. They said my child was brain dead and would not survive. They said his organs would benefit some of the patients there. I signed, my younger son kissed his brother and cried, then we left,” Omana said, recalling that tragic day.

Other relatives, including Omana’s sister’s son Shine Paul, were waiting outside the ICU. Shine was very close to Abin and was present in Mar Baselios Hospital where Abin was taken immediately after the accident and later at Lakeshore too. Omana said, “I was totally broken and not in a proper mental state. Still the hospital authorities did not ask any of the relatives who were there with me. My family didn’t want to make it an issue as they considered it a good deed.”

“But all these years, Shine kept telling us that there was something suspicious in the way the hospital handled Abin’s case. None of us believed him. He had to face ostracism and hatred within the family for saying this. But finally it has all come true,” Omana added sadly.

Omana, her eldest son Bipin, and their eight relatives worked in a denture making company in Muvattupuzha. On the fateful day when Abin and Bipin – who was 19 then – got into the accident after their two-wheeler hit an electric post, the company sent some staff members to take care of them at both the hospitals. “The company people were ready to bear all the expenses, they were present throughout. It was one of the staff members who first spoke to me about the organ donation,” Omana said.

It was a year later when the postmortem report came out that the issues began. The surgeon who did the postmortem pointed out that the doctors who examined Abin in both hospitals did not drain the blood collected in his cranial cavity, which could have saved him.

“I approached the denture company multiple times asking for the documents related to Abin’s treatment and the postmortem report, which they had. They did not provide anything. Also initially when we filed a complaint over the accident with the police, the company was with me. Later they just started avoiding me,” Shine told TNM.

Shine, Omana, and many others were contacted by the police multiple times when the surgeon raised suspicions. Omana was not ready to file a complaint as she never doubted the hospital or the company staff members who helped them, until the recent development. “Shine told me many times, I scolded him and asked him to keep quiet. He was sidelined by all family members,” Omana said.

Bipin, who was with Abin at the time of the accident, also sustained serious injuries. Omana had to spend a lot on further treatment to bring him back to normal life. “When I took Bipin to another hospital, they said that his complications were due to negligence during initial treatment. It is only recently that he is back to normalcy,” she said.

Omana lost Abin four years after her husband died. “My husband died when he climbed inside a well to help someone out. Four years later Abin was gone. I was slowly coming out of the trauma. But now how can I recover from the thought that my signature might have contributed to his death?” she asked.