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Delhi hospitals face up to autopsy after trader's shooting death
A day after a man bled to death from his gunshot wounds in a city hospital after being turned away at two others, hospital managements sought to clarify that saving lives remained their top priority.
- IANS
- Published: 23:38 April 8, 2008
New Delhi: A day after a man bled to death from his gunshot wounds in a city hospital after being turned away at two others, hospital managements sought to clarify that saving lives remained their top priority.
Arun Gupta, a 47-year-old electronics goods trader, died on Monday after being shot by three unidentified men near his home in south Delhi's Kalkaji area. His son rushed him from one hospital to another but he was refused timely treatment evidently for fear of a legal tangle.
Gupta was finally taken to the Holy Family Hospital some distance away but the delay proved costly and doctors declared him dead.
As readers of newspapers and others reacted with shock at the news, hospital managements said human life was paramount.
"Life-saving is the foremost duty of a doctor and a hospital. In accident or medico-legal cases [MLC], all that the doctor has to do is to fill the injury sheet, which in any case is a part of the assessment of the patient," said B.K. Rao, chairperson of the board of management and head of the critical care unit of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
"Doctors should not be afraid of getting involved in such cases. Their priority should be to save the person's life," said Rao.
According to officials at the hospital, it handles about 125 cases in its casualty department each day, five per cent of them MLC cases.
Added Dilpreet Brar, chief administrator of Max Healthcare: "I don't want to comment about other hospitals, but if we get a patient who needs emergency life-saving treatment, we remain committed to giving such treatment.
Authorities at Apollo Hospital said the hospital never refused an emergency case.
Doctors at some hospitals hesitated with MLC cases for the simple reason that medical staff could be held responsible for unpaid bills of unattended patients, they said.
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